The Moon's Dream
by LazyPandicorn
Summary: When Mei, a 17-year-old Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit fangirl from modern-day Earth finds herself plunged into a world none other than Middle Earth itself, she is overwhelmed by excitement. But her initial happiness soon changes to fear, as she realizes that it is now up to her to save the lives of those she loves... like that of a certain reckless, dark-haired prince.
1. Chapter 1: Concerning Hobbits

Thanks so much for checking out my story, The Moon's Dream! I'm trying to improve my worldbuilding skills in writing, and I thought that if I wrote a fanfiction about a world that already existed, I might improve a bit! I tried to infuse my OC (Mei) with as much of myself as I could-she's Asian, a complete fangirl of J.R.R. Tolkien's books and extremely awkward. I'm a pretty silly person in real life, so you'll probably find bits of humor scattered throughout the story.

I hope you enjoy The Moon's Dream, and if you could leave a review that would mean the world to me! :)

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 _I'm going to be late for school again!_ Mei thought anxiously to herself, her messenger bag banging against her side as she raced down the bike trail (the shortcut from her house to her high school). Clouds of dirt rose from the ground as her Converse sneakers pounded along the path.

In her haste to get to school in time, Mei had failed to notice the fallen tree branch lying in her path. The branch snagged her jeans and she began to fall onto the path. When she fell, her head banged against a large rock on the side of the path. Her world went black.

* * *

Mei's senses slowly awakened. She could feel soft grass beneath her body, the weight of her messenger bag against her side. When she opened her eyes, she found that she was lying in the middle of a grassy meadow. The sky was dark, and she could see some twinkling stars scattered throughout the blackness.

 _This is weird_ , Mei thought. She didn't recognize this meadow, and she certainly didn't think there was a meadow anywhere near the bike path where she had fallen. Maybe someone had brought her here when they found her unconscious body at the bike path? Or maybe she was just dreaming?

Mei got up, re-adjusted her messenger bag on her shoulder, and dusted off her jeans. A quick look at her surroundings informed her that she was entirely alone in the meadow.

She slowly turned in place, taking in the seemingly endless grass that encased her. In the distance, she could see a cluster of flickering lights, and the faint sound of voices. _Maybe there are some people over there who can tell me where I am!_ Mei thought, making for the group of lights in a sprint.

When she reached the end of the meadow and stepped onto a dirt road, she could see a strange house-like lodging not far ahead. The house seemed to be built into the hill behind it, and it's door was circular, with a knob at the very center.

Something looked strangely familiar about this house. When she looked at it, she got a strange feeling-like she had seen the house before.

Mei continued along the road, passing that weird house. _Maybe I'm just dreaming all of this_ , she thought to herself, trying out the classic "pinch me, I'm dreaming" trick.

As she walked further down the dirt path, she could see more and more houses, each of them pretty much identical to the first, emerging. They were all built into grassy hills, and all had those wacky circular doors.

But as she was passing a house with a particularly banged-up door, she bumped into a man, carrying a basket of potatoes, who had also been walking along the path.

"Watch where you're going, lass!" the man cried, looking annoyed.

"Sorry!" Mei yelped, instinctively. She bent down to pick up one of the potatoes that had fallen out of the man's basket during the collision. But when she looked down to grasp one of them, she found herself looking down at the man's very hairy feet.

"Oh my god…" she whispered.

"What?" the man asked, frowning.

"You're a hobbit!" Mei cried, straightening up. With another amazed look at her surroundings, she added, "this is the Shire!" J.R.R. Tolkien's _The Hobbit_ and _Lord of the Rings_ had been two of her favorite books. And now-she was actually here, in the Shire! It was any fangirl's dream.

"Well, _of course_ I'm a hobbit!" the hobbit said grumpily. Then, he scanned her face, his brows furrowing. "You're not from around here, are you, lassie?"

Mei knew what he meant. Her almond-shaped eyes and straight black hair must have made her look like quite the outsider in this curly-haired realm of hobbits.

But then something else occurred to her. She and the hobbit were exactly the same size-him perhaps a smidge taller. Weren't hobbits called "halflings?" Weren't they supposed to be… you know, _half_ the size of humans?

"Wait-why are we the same size?" she looked down at herself, as if looking for some sort of sign that she had magically shrunk or something. But her body looked entirely normal, and not shrunken at all. How was she, a human, the same size as this hobbit?

"What do you mean?" the hobbit asked, looking confused.

"Never mind," Mei replied, figuring that there was a lot she didn't know about why she was here or what had brought her here, and that her height was the least of her concerns at the moment. "Is there anywhere that I can sleep tonight? Y'know, like an inn or something?"

"Hmm… you won't find an inn 'round here in Hobbiton. But there's some sort of party going on over at Bag End tonight. Dunno if it's a party, exactly, but it seems pretty crowded. Maybe they can help you out." The hobbit picked up the rest of his potatoes and readjusted his grip on the basket. "I'd best be off, then! My wife is expecting me."

"Thank you, sir," Mei said, and the two of them continued on their ways.

 _Bag End!_ Mei thought to herself excitedly. _Will I be meeting Bilbo Baggins tonight? That would be so freaking awesome!_

Even though Mei hadn't been to Hobbiton before, she easily found Bag End. The house was at the very top of the hill, just like it had been pictured in her illustrated edition of _The Hobbit_.

But when she reached the gate to Bag End, she saw a glowing symbol etched into the door.

It was the symbol that Gandalf had carved into Bilbo's door at the beginning of _The Hobbit_!

Mei nearly squealed in excitement. She was going to meet all of her favorite characters! Thorin Oakenshield, Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo Baggins…

With a happy little smile, Mei knocked on the door three times.

The door opened, and there stood a very familiar hobbit. He had curly, light brown hair, and looked extremely frazzled. His tired eyes lit up curiously when he saw Mei. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"Oh my god!" Mei shrieked. "It's really you! You're Bilbo Baggins!"

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If you could review, that would be amazing, thank you!

Plus, giving this story a fav or follow would be pretty awesome-tastical as well! I heard it brings good luck!


	2. Chapter 2: Interrogations

"Umm..." Bilbo arched an eyebrow at Mei. "Have we met?"

"Yes! Well, not in person, but I've read all about you! Oh my god, this is so cool! Can I have your autograph? Or do you mind if we take a selfie? Aaaaaah, I can't believe this is really happening! You're my _favorite_ character in The Hobbit!" Mei babbled, jumping up and down excitedly. When she saw Bilbo looking blankly back at her, she realized that she had probably overwhelmed the poor hobbit. _Way to go, Mei_ , she scolded herself. _Some great social skills you've got there. Not awkward at all…_

"Who is our new guest?" a deep, authoritative voice boomed from inside the house. Behind Bilbo, a tall, grey-clad man (at least 3 feet taller than Mei) emerged, a wooden staff in his hand.

"You must be Gandalf!" Mei shrieked, unable to control her eagerness.

"She claims to know who _I_ am, Gandalf, but I haven't the faintest idea who _she_ is!" Bilbo whispered to Gandalf, mistakenly thinking that Mei couldn't hear him.

"And who might you be, young lady?" Gandalf asked, looking down at Mei with a slightly amused expression on his face.

"My name's Mei, Mr. Gandalf sir!" Mei wasn't sure how exactly to address the wizard in front of her, so she ended off her proclamation with a deep bow.

Gandalf chuckled. "You need not show me such formality, Miss Mei."

"Okay, cool!" Mei grinned. "Do you mind if I touch your beard? I mean, if it's not weird, or anything. It's just that I've read all about you, and I'm ever so big of a fan, and now that you're actually in front of me-" Mei paused to take a breath. "-And your beard looks _so_ fluffy…"

Gandalf laughed again, but Bilbo just looked between the two of them, a confused look on his face.

"Who is this?" Another voice, this time one that sounded slightly younger and yet even more deep than Gandalf's.

Gandalf stepped aside so that there was a clear line of sight between Mei and… _Thorin Oakenshield_?!

Thorin opened his mouth to say something, but Mei ran towards him, stopping a few paces in front of him.

"You're Thorin Oakenshield!" she cried excitedly, taking in his fur coat, long dark hair and ice-blue eyes. "Like, the dwarven king!"

"How is it that you know my name?" Thorin asked, looking suspiciously at her. "Are you an orc spy?"

"I doubt someone as pretty as her could pass for an orc, uncle," a dark-haired dwarf said with a smirk. Several other dwarves (Mei immediately identified them as: Kili [the one who had spoken], Fili, Balin and Bofur) had come into the foyer where Thorin, Mei, Bilbo and Gandalf had been talking, and now stood behind Thorin.

The other dwarves (excluding Thorin) chortled at Kili's remark. Mei doubted that Kili had actually meant what he had said, about her being pretty-it had probably been just a joke. Nonetheless, she found herself blushing fiercely. She glanced quickly at Kili, who smiled at her, and then averted her eyes to the floor.

"If you are not an orc, then who are you?" Thorin asked, looking her up and down. "You are obviously not a dwarf-I would know if you were my kin. I doubt that you're an elf-you're much too short. Not a human either…"

"I actually am a human," Mei replied, her cheeks returning to their normal color as she looked the dwarf king in front of her in the eye.

" _What_?" Thorin hissed, sounding surprised.

"You see, I'm from… err… another world, I guess."

"Another world?" Fili asked. "What world?"

"It's called… Earth," Mei replied, not quite sure how else to explain the green-and-blue planet to these dwarves.

"I have never heard of such a place!" Thorin growled. "How do we know that you're not lying?" He pulled out his sword and held it to her throat. "Speak the truth, human. If that's even what you are."

"Umm… you see…" Mei stammered, her heart racing as the point of the blade inched closer and closer to her throat. _I never thought Thorin would be like this..._ she thought, shuddering slightly.

"Thorin Oakenshield!" Gandalf's commanding voice boomed. "Leave that girl alone!"

Thorin's eyes flitted to the wizard who stood in the corner of the room, and his grip on his sword loosened slightly.

"Perhaps she is telling the truth," Gandalf reasoned. "There are many unknown lands beyond our horizons. This 'Earth' that she speaks of may indeed be a real place. It is unfair to doubt her when we know so little about her."

Thorin grunted and shoved his sword back into his sheath.

Mei exhaled a shuddering breath of relief.

"Now," Thorin said, hardly missing a beat. "Tell us your name."

"Oh, I'm Mei," Mei said.

"May?" Bofur asked. "As in, 'may I have another helping of salted pork'"?

Kili snickered. "I could do with one of those right now, Bofur!"

His brother, Fili, nodded and grinned.

Mei couldn't help but laugh a little bit too. But Thorin's harsh gaze brought her back to the matter at hand.

"Not like 'may,' but 'Mei,' spelled M-e-i," she informed Bofur. "But it's an honest mistake-the substitute teachers at my school call me "May" all the time."

"Your 'substitute teachers'?" Thorin asked, looking even more suspicious.

"Oh, right… you guys are like, all old-timey and probably don't have substitute teachers…" Mei realized, biting her lip.

Thorin glared at her, looking ready to whip his sword out again.

"Not to be rude, Miss, erm… Miss Mei," a dwarf with short brown hair (Ori, Mei figured) interjected. "But… where you come from-was it called Earth?-does everyone… does everyone look like… like you?"

The room fell silent, as even Thorin's penetrating gaze relaxed slightly to hear her answer.

Just like the hobbit she had bumped into on the road earlier, they must have seen her Chinese characteristics and dubbed her an outsider. In fact, the dwarves standing in front of her had probably had never seen another Asian before. Were there any Chinese people in Middle Earth? Mei wasn't entirely sure, but it was something she had definitely speculated about when reading J.R.R. Tolkien's books.

"No," Mei finally answered. "Not everyone on Earth looks like me. I mean, we all look generally the same, but some of our features, like our eyes, height and hair color are different."

The dwarves (all thirteen of them were now in the foyer) stood and processed what she had said for a moment.

Then, a plump dwarf with ginger hair (Bombur, probably) spoke up. "Oi! Can we get back to dinner now? We're wasting valuable eating time!"

All of the other dwarves grumbled in agreement, and they all slowly filtered back through the doorway and into what Mei figured was the kitchen.

With one last suspicious look at Mei, Thorin reluctantly turned and headed back into the kitchen, followed by Gandalf (who gave Mei a little wink).

Soon, only Bilbo and Mei were standing in the foyer.

"You're not the only one completely baffled by these dwarves tonight!" Bilbo said at last. "They're completely crazy-tearing up my pantry, tracking dirt throughout my house…" Bilbo shuddered, and Mei could tell that dirty footprints and an unorganized pantry were both the sorts of things Bilbo Baggins couldn't stand.


	3. Chapter 3: To See the Future

Once everyone was inside the kitchen, Balin continued a conversation that had seemingly been interrupted when Mei had arrived.

"We must find a way to read the runes on this map," he said, pointing to the runes (Mei knew from reading _The Hobbit_ that these runes were called moon runes) on a scrap of parchment. The paper had a mountain (Erebor, Mei assumed) inked onto it.

"Can any of you read them?" Thorin asked, scanning the room.

"Excuse me?" Mei interjected.

All eyes in the room turned to her.

"What is it?" Thorin spat, his eyes flickering dangerously.

"Well…" Mei ventured, regretting her outburst. "I know what the runes say." Upon the room's started expressions, she awkwardly added, "if, y'know… you're interested."

"How is it you can read these runes?" Gandalf asked, looking extremely surprised. "As far as I know, only Middle Earth's elite scholars could even attempt to read these old writings! Are you fluent in ancient Dwarvish?"

"Umm…" Mei began, unsure of how to explain. "You see… this might sound kind of weird, but… umm… well..."

"Spit it out, girl!" Thorin barked, seeming to grow impatient with Mei's scattered stutters.

"Uncle," Kili whisper-hissed. "She's just nervous."

Mei gave Kili what she hoped looked like an appreciative smile and not a nervous grimace. "On Earth," she said at last, avoiding looking directly at Thorin's fiery eyes. "There's this book. It's called _The Hobbit_ and is all about… well, it's about you guys! Bilbo is the main character, and he narrates about his adventures with all of you dwarves. I've read all about your journey to reclaim Erebor. In fact, I've read it a good fifteen times."

The room erupted into chatter.

"I'm a character in a book?" Bilbo cried incredulously.

"So you already know all about us because… because you've _read_ about us?" Fili asked.

"Does that mean you can predict the future? Do you already know what happens to us, Miss Mei?" Bofur asked, leaning forward eagerly.

Upon Bofur's statement, the dwarves grew even more excited.

"Do we reclaim Erebor in the end?"

"Do we reach the mountain safely?"

"Is Smaug still alive? Do we defeat him?"

"Uh…" Mei stammered, trying to pick which of the dwarves' questions to answer first.

"Silence!" Thorin thundered.

The room's chitter and chatter immediately ceased.

"Are you saying," Thorin said slowly to Mei, the harsh edge to his voice gone and replaced by the soft glow of hope. "That you already know what happens? That you know the outcome of our quest? That you can see the future?"

"Well, yeah, pretty much," Mei said.

Thorin made a noise half like a gasp and half like a laugh.

"So?" Balin asked. " _Do_ we reach the mountain?"

"Yeah," Mei said, relaxing a bit. If Thorin didn't hate her anymore, maybe she could chill out a bit.

The dwarves looked at her, their eyes huge. Mei could see that they were deciding whether or not to trust her, but that they were secretly overflowing with hope and happiness.

"Prove it." Thorin stated, stepping towards her. "Prove that you really have seen our futures. Prove that we can trust you."

"Well…" Mei looked around, at all of the dwarves' expectant, hopeful faces. She took a deep breath. Pointing to Bilbo, she said, "You were born on September twenty-second. Thorin, your uncle is Frerin and your aunt is Dis. Fili, your weapon of choice is a set of two swords, and Kili, your's is a bow and arrow."

When she finished, she scanned the silent dwarves, hoping she hadn't said anything incorrectly, hoping that the hours she had spent researching _The Hobbit_ 's history and random facts had paid off, and that she hadn't made a mistake.

The ones she had spoken to, Bilbo, Thorin, Fili and Kili, all looked at her, their mouths agape.

"She's right!" Bilbo shouted, breaking the silence.

"That she is!" Kili added, brandishing his bow in the air.

Thorin grinned, the first time Mei had seen him do so, and turned to Gandalf. "I think we have found the fifteenth member of our company, Mithrandir. She will prove to be most useful."

"Woah!" Mei cried. "I get to be a part of your company? Oh my god-that's so freakin' cool!"

"Lassie?" Balin interrupted, smiling. "You never did tell us what these moon runes said."

"Oh, right!" Mei said, turning to the kindly old dwarf. She cleared her throat, then recited (from memory):

"Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the key-hole."

"Durin's Day…" Thorin whispered, looking back at the map. He was silent for a moment, as if processing this new information.

The room was silent as well (besides Bombur's lip-smacking and loud chewing noises as he devoured the last of the bread and cheese on the table), seemingly waiting for Thorin to speak.

"Durin's Day…" Thorin repeated. Then he turned back to the dwarves. "We must leave soon, if we are to make it to the mountain in time."

"How soon, uncle?" Fili asked.

"Right now," Thorin said, smiling broadly at his company. "We have a mountain to reclaim!"

The dwarves roared with approval, raising their cups of ale into the air.

"Start packing!" Thorin commanded. "We leave at first light tomorrow!"

"Awesome…" Mei whispered to herself.


	4. Chapter 4: The Durin Prince

Poor Bilbo Baggins' home had been torn apart. The thirteen dwarves bustled noisily about, packing bags with food and clothes. Mei, unsure of what to pack for herself, just hung about in the kitchen, trying not to draw too much attention to herself. Although many of the dwarves (especially Thorin) had warmed up to her upon learning of what they thought were her "future-predicting powers," she still felt slightly nervous around them.

Instead of packing like everyone else, she had occupied herself by discreetly munching on the what was left of the chocolate cake Bombur had been eating.

She was just about to fork another bite into her mouth, when a voice said behind her, "Bombur would have a fit if he knew you've been eating his chocolate cake."

Mei whirled around, nearly stabbing herself in the chin with her fork.

Behind her, Kili leaned against a wooden antique cabinet. Although his position came across as casual, Mei could tell he had spent a decent amount of time adjusting himself to get into the most carefree and effortless position possible.

"Why, hello there Mr. Kili," she said with an overly formal tone, bowing slightly and waving her fork through the air.

He grinned. "A good evening to you as well, Miss Mei," Kili strutted over to where Mei was standing, and paused only a couple of feet away from her. The closer the dwarf grew to her, the faster Mei found her heart beating in her chest.

"I just came by to see if you needed any advice on what to pack," Kili said, after they had stood there, staring at each other for what had seemed like forever.

"Oh!" Mei said, startled. "Umm… yeah, some advice would be pretty helpful I guess. I've never been on an adventure or anything before."

"Well, you're in luck, because I happen to be quite the expert on adventures," Kili said, flashing her a wide grin. "Mind if I see your bag? Just to see what you already have packed, that is," he gestured to her messenger bag.

"Sure," Mei replied, making a move to lift the bag off her shoulder. But Kili took a few steps forward and gently took one of the bag straps in his hand. As he did, his hand brushed her arm, causing Mei to inhale sharply.

Kili quickly ended their contact, and lifted the bag off of Mei's shoulders. He raised his eyebrows at Mei as soon as he was carrying the full weight of the bag. "What have you got in here? Rocks? It must weigh as much as a fully grown dwarf!"

Mei laughed, but inwardly she was cursing herself. _Of course the super cute dwarf touches your arm, and you suddenly get all twitchy and weird. Way to go, Mei, way to go_.

Kili went to open her bag, but confusion soon dawned on his face. "What is this?" he asked, pointing to the zipper that sealed her bag.

"Oh," Mei giggled. "It's called a zipper. The people-the people on Earth-use it to close stuff like backpacks and even to secure things like jackets. Here, I'll show you how to open it," Mei picked up the zipper and pulled it sharply to the right, causing the zipper's many metal teeth to break apart from each other, leaving a trail of opened bag behind them.

"Wow…" Kili gasped, fingering one of the metal teeth. "This is amazing!"

"Yeah, I guess so," Mei said, who had grown up her whole life with zipper technology and didn't find it very impressive.  
"What's this?" Kili asked, picking up a cardboard packet from inside her bag.

"It's gum," Mei answered, taking the gum packet from him and removing a stick. She handed the paper-wrapped slide to him. "You should try it!"

Kili took the gum and carefully unwrapped it. Upon seeing the green stick of gum inside, he wrinkled his nose. "I don't like green food," he said, looking disgusted.

"Aww, c'mon!" Mei said, laughing a little. "Just try it! You'll love it, I promise."

"If you say so…" Kili said warily, putting the gum into his mouth. As soon as it touched his tongue, his eyes immediately lit up. "I love it!" he cried.

"Told you so," Mei said in a sing-song voice, playfully nudging him. "Ooh, try this!" She pulled a protein bar (chocolate, with almonds and granola) out of her bag, unwrapped it, and handed it to him.

Kili shoved the whole thing into his mouth and chewed. "Your people on Earth have the best food!" he said, swallowing.

"Uh oh," Mei said, looking at him. "You didn't swallow the gum, did you?"

"Was I not supposed to?" Kili asked, eyes wide. He looked genuinely scared.

"Well, not exactly," Mei said. But to scare Kili even more, she added, "some people on Earth who have swallowed gum have actually died within the hour. It can be a very serious problem."

"Oh, Mahal help me," Kili gasped, clutching his throat.

Mei laughed hysterically.

"What're you laughing at?" Kili demanded. "I'm going to _die_! It's not funny!"

"I was just kidding," Mei giggled. "You're not going to die."

"Whew," Kili said, exhaling. "That was close."

"It sure was," Mei said, grinning at him.

"Kili!"

It was Balin, who had appeared in the doorway. He scanned the situation, saw how close Mei and Kili were standing, and waggled his eyebrows knowingly.

Mei blushed, quite sure that her cheeks were the same color as Balin's red Santa-Claus-like nose.

"Thorin needs you," Balin said, smiling at the two of them.

"Alright," Kili said, taking several steps away from where he and Mei had been standing. Then, he turned around, "I never got to help you pack!" he exclaimed to Mei.

"Oh, it's okay," Mei said. "I'm sure I can figure it out."

"You sure?" Kili asked.

"Yeah." Mei felt extremely uncomfortable under the amused watch of Balin in the doorway, and wanted this conversation to end as soon as possible.

With one last look back at Mei, Kili left the room, leaving just Mei standing near the kitchen table and Balin leaning against the doorframe.

Balin raised his eyebrow one last time, and then turn to follow Kili out of the room.


	5. Chapter 5: Maybe I Can Save Him

It was nearing midnight, and nearly all the dwarves were fast asleep-whether from the ale they had been guzzling throughout the night or from pure drowsiness, Mei couldn't tell.

In fact, she was pretty sure that the only others who were awake were Fili and Kili. Even Gandalf and Bilbo had nodded off-the old wizard was snoring loudly in the armchair, while the hobbit had been just so frazzled by the night's events that he had fallen onto the carpet in a near faint.

Mei had packed her messenger bag with what she thought might come in handy during an adventure, although she mainly just guessed at what she might need. Was it necessary to pack food? Or would they find food along the way? Did she need to bring extra clothes? What about money?

After going through her messenger bag, she had taken out a few things to make way for her new adventuring supplies. By the end of her packing, the bag was loaded up with various provisions:

3 of Bilbo's dinner rolls

1 notebook and a ballpoint pen (Mei had left them in there, just in case she needed to write something down)

2 packs of gum

1 protein bar (Kili had scarfed down the other one earlier)

1 change of clothes (they were her gym clothes, and Mei just hoped they didn't smell too bad)

1 knife (she had found it lying around on the kitchen table, and had randomly stuffed it into her bag, thinking that it was always important to have a knife with you when adventuring)

She had ditched the textbooks she had been carrying (thank goodness), as well as her lunch money (she doubted she would have any use for U.S. dollars in Middle Earth) and her iPhone. As much as it pained her to leave her phone behind, she knew she wouldn't have any use for it-ever since she had landed in Middle Earth, the screen had stayed black and wouldn't turn on.

Now, Mei lay in front of the fire, trying desperately to go to sleep. But Gandalf kept snoring, the dwarves kept fidgeting, and Fili and Kili were still bustling about somewhere else in the house.

 _At this rate I'll never get to sleep_ , she thought to herself, trying to get into a more comfortable position.

"Psst!"

Mei sat up, squinting through the darkness to see who had spoken.

"It's me," a familiar voice added, and Kili emerged from the shadows.

"And me!" another voice whispered, as Fili followed his brother.

"Oh, hey," Mei said, scooting over so that they could sit by the fire with her.

They sat down across from her. The three of them were silent for a long while. Mei wasn't sure whether or not to break the silence, or if one of them would say something first. And so the awkwardness continued.

But when Gandalf let out a particularly violent and loud snore, they all collapsed in hysterics.

When their laughter had subsided, Kili said, "we should all probably get to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a big day."

"Yeah, I guess so," Mei said, yawning. She lay down on the hard wooden floor again.

Kili lay down next to her, and Fili lay down next to Kili.

They lay there in silence again, but this time the silence wasn't uncomfortable. It was a calm, peaceful silence, one that communicated a thousand feelings of togetherness and friendship without a sound.

Finally, Mei heard Fili drift off, so that it was just her and Kili.

"Mei?" Kili asked, turning over to face her.

"Yeah?" She faced him too.

"So, you really can tell the future?" his usually confident voice had been diminished to a hesitant and timid whisper. He sounded like a small child, a characterization helped along by the fact that his eyes had gone huge and round.

"I guess so," Mei said, wondering why Kili sounded so frightened all of a sudden.

"So, do you… do you know... " Kili gulped, and closed his eyes for a moment. "Do you know if I die?"

Now it was Mei's turn to gulp. In _The Hobbit_ , Thorin, Fili and Kili all died at the very end of the book, after the Battle of the Five Armies. She was about to tell him that, but looking at Kili's huge, scared eyes… how could she? How could you tell a person that within a year's time they were to die?

"No," Mei said at last. "No, you don't die, Kili. You and all of the dwarves make it safely to Erebor, and all of you survive. Nobody dies." A lie. A complete and utter lie.

"Really?" Kili asked, his eyes glistening. It looked as if he might cry. He gave her a small smile. "I made a promise. To my mother, you see. I promised her that I would come back to her safely after this adventure was done. I _promised_ , Mei. And I'd like to keep that promise."

"And you will, Kili," Mei said, trying to look comforting and happy despite the guilt sloshing around inside of her.

"Thank you, Mei," Kili said. "This means a lot."

Not sure how to respond, Mei lay there in silence and watched as Kili closed his eyes and slowly went to sleep.

Mei's head was overflowing with thoughts. Now that she, Mei, was going to be a part of _The Hobbit_ 's story, did that mean that when (or if) she got back home to Earth, she would pick up a copy of _The Hobbit_ and find her own name inside of it? Was she a character of _The Hobbit_ now?

But the most complicated question she had was: would any part of the story _change_? Would everything go exactly like it went in the books? Or would the story, _her_ story, go differently?

That was what scared her the most. Now that she was here, plunged into the story of _The Hobbit_ , would the events that followed differ from those she had read about?

She looked at Kili's sleeping face, and watched as the glow from the fire cast a reddish, dancing light over his face, illuminating his features.

A hopeful thought emerged inside her head. What if... what if this story would be different? What if, at the end of her story, Kili _didn't_ die?

 _Maybe I_ can _save him_ , Mei thought, as she too drifted off to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6: Ride With Me

"Will it always be like this?" Mei grumbled, pulling her sweatshirt's hood further down over her face. As soon as they had left Bag End, it had started to rain.

"You'd best get used to it," Bofur told her. "If you think a little rain is annoying, maybe you're not cut out for this, lassie."

"Hmph," Mei muttered, trying to keep up with the rest of the company without splashing too much of the mucky brown water on her white Converse.

The company was walking on foot until they reached a farm near the borders of the Shire. There, according to Gandalf, there were ponies for them to use for the rest of their journey.

"How're you liking the 'adventuring life?'" Kili asked, appearing beside her and smirking.

"It's brilliant," Mei muttered sarcastically, slogging him in the arm.

Kili laughed, throwing an arm around her. "Don't worry, it gets better from here. Sleeping in smelly caves, trekking through bug-infested forests, running for hours straight without any rest… it's all in good spirit!"

Mei tried to laugh, but failed. Not because what Kili had described sounded awful and not at all like something she would enjoy (although, that may have been partly responsible), but because she was so concentrated on the fact that _Kili's arm was around her_. Like, _what_? It was only a matter of time before she did something stupid and awkward again to mess it all up.

The company kept walking for a good ten minutes. Mei, all the while, was trying to act as relaxed and calm as possible as she could while Kili's arm was slung around her shoulder. _Be causal, Mei. Don't make it awkward_ , she told herself.

When at last they reached a farm (which looked dreary due to the huge amounts of rain making the crops soggy and floppy), Gandalf turned to face the company.

"Here we are," he said. He looked from each member of the company to the next, seeming to be performing a head count. "Good, good, everyone is here."

For the first time, a realization struck Mei. In the book, Bilbo hadn't come with the company originally, and then had caught up with them later on. But when they had left Bag End less than an hour before, Bilbo had come with them, the contract pledging his services as a burglar for the company already bearing his signature.

 _Maybe this story is different than the original_ The Hobbit, Mei thought to herself. Although this thought scared her at first, it also gave her some hope that maybe, just maybe, the deaths of Thorin, Fili and Kili could all be avoided as well.

A hobbit came to greet them. He was wearing a farmer's outfit, and was leading fifteen horses behind him.

"Greetings, Gandalf!" the farmer said, nodding at Gandalf. "It's good to see you!"

"I could say the same to you, Farmer Maggot," Gandalf replied.

 _Farmer Maggot_! Mei thought, remembering how he had served Frodo and Sam supper at the beginning of the _Lord of the Rings_ books.

"I have the ponies ready, just like you requested," Farmer Maggot said. "But if you don't mind, this rain really is horrible, and I'd much rather be inside near my hearth. So if you'll excuse me…" he ran back towards the barn, covering his head with his hands like a makeshift umbrella.

The dwarves began to mount the ponies. Mei saw Bilbo argue that he could just walk, thank you very much, but Gandalf plopped him onto a pony nonetheless.

Once Gandalf had mounted his own horse, he looked around at the dwarves, checking to make sure they were all on ponies. Then, he saw Mei, standing on the ground.

"Oh, I'm afraid we're one pony short," Gandalf exclaimed. "I didn't know you were coming when I asked Farmer Maggot to reserve these horses, you see, Miss Mei. I'm terribly sorry."

"It's okay," Mei said. "I'm sure I can just…" she wasn't sure how else she was going to ride with the company without a horse, so she just stood there, hoping Gandalf would come up with something.

"You can ride with me!" Kili said, grinning.

"Oh, umm…" Mei stammered.

"That's settled, then!" Gandalf said, with that same knowing smirk Balin had given Mei the night before.

"Erm… alright then," Mei said, turning to Kili. "I guess I'm stuck with you then," she added jokingly.

"You sure are!" he smiled, holding out a hand to help her up onto the pony.

Mei took his hand, trying to shove down all of her teenage girl jittery feelings when their fingers locked together. He pulled her up onto the horse with hardly any trouble, and she landed (not as gracefully as she would have liked) onto the pony's back directly behind him.

Thorin led his horse to the front of the group, and began galloping towards the forest just ahead.

The rest of the dwarves led their ponies to follow him, and soon Kili and Mei's pony was galloping at full speed towards the trees as well.

Mei nearly fell off the horse's back, and wrapped her arms around Kili's middle to stay on.

She felt Kili tense as soon as she did so, and she hoped she wasn't hurting him.

But then he relaxed, and with another snap the horse's reins, their horse picked up speed.

Mei yelped, and yelled to Kili, "you're making it go extra fast on purpose, aren't you?!"

"Of course not," Kili said in a way that led Mei to believe he was lying, turning to grin at her.

She couldn't help but smile back.


	7. Chapter 7: You Look Gorgeous Tonight

**I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter! (I can't believe we're on Chapter 7 already!) This chapter is probably one of the longest, and it's set at (eek!) Rivendell! I always** ** _loved_** **Rivendell the most when I read the books, so it was pretty fun to write this chapter. Did I race through some of their adventures at the beginning to get the characters to Rivendell faster? Maybe... ;)**

* * *

"Let's camp here tonight," Thorin said, after they had been riding through the forest for at least seven hours. Mei had fallen asleep at one point, and had woken up to find that her head had been leaning on Kili's shoulder and, someone (she guessed it had been Kili) has draped a traveling cloak over her.

"Umm," Mei said, remembering how the dwarves had encountered the trolls (and almost died!) when they had camped in this part of the forest.

"What?" Thorin asked, looking at her.

"There are trolls around here-it's not safe," Mei replied, hoping Thorin would believe her.

"Really?" Thorin asked, looking skeptical. "There haven't been trolls in these parts for years."

"No, trust me," Mei said. "There's three trolls just beyond these trees that are going to steal your ponies and… yeah, just don't camp here. Please."

"Alright," Thorin said, turning back to the reins of his horse. "We'll find somewhere else to camp for the night."

 _Wow_ , Mei thought. _If I can prevent them from running into the trolls, maybe I can protect them from running into all of the other dangers too_.

The company headed further into the forest. After they had been riding for an additional hour or so, Thorin turned back to look at Mei, as if to ask, _is this area safe?_

Mei nodded at him. She was pretty sure the trolls wouldn't come this far from their campsite in one night.

The dwarves dismounted from their horses for the first time in hours. When Mei slid off of her and Kili's horse, her knees wobbled and nearly gave out under her. Not walking for seven hours straight and then suddenly trying to stand is pretty difficult.

Kili caught her hand to steady her, as he too dismounted.

"Thanks," she said, finding her balance.

The company began setting up camp. Bofur and Bifur were getting a fire going, while Bombur selected which foods to cook that night. Thorin was ordering Dwalin, Fili and Kili to take the night's first watch.

And so, it was in this rhythm that the company continued for several days. Mei would direct them to certain areas and away from others. She led them to the troll cave, because she knew it was essential for Bilbo to find the Elvish sword, Sting, and for Thorin to find Orcrist, the "goblin-cleaver."

But she said nothing when Gandalf began leading them towards Rivendell. She knew Thorin would be upset, but she longed to see the beauty of Rivendell for herself. After reading about it's glory and serenity for years, she couldn't pass up the opportunity to see it for herself.

Rivendell did not disappoint.

As soon as Mei saw the glorious kingdom, she felt as if New York City, London and Paris were like nothing compared to this.

Sparkling waters lay below an arching bridge. Elvish architecture was definitely something Mei had never seen the likes of before. Towering turrets loomed above her, gorgeous archways beckoned her to walk further into the kingdom, and peaceful gazebos could be seen just beyond vast, well-tended gardens.

Thorin turned to Mei, a betrayed look on his face.

"Did you know the wizard was leading us here?" he hissed venomously.

"Umm… er… no?" Mei stammered. "I kind of forgot about this part in the book," she lied.

Thorin turned away from her, looking disgusted.

"Calm yourself, Thorin," Gandalf said, looking amused. "We have been in the wilderness for nearly a week now-would you not like to be treated to warm baths, fresh food and soft beds? Your company is weary, and they need to rest."

Thorin grumbled, but said nothing.

Once the company had been greeted by Elrond, several elves appeared to lead the various members of the company to their rooms.

A pretty, brown-haired elf escorted Mei to her room. The elf was much taller than Mei, although Mei supposed that _all_ elves would be taller than her. Ever since arriving in Middle Earth, her regular height seemed to have diminished. She was now even shorter than some of the dwarves.

When Mei entered her room, she found herself turning in place to get a full view of the beautifully decorated suite. The furniture and decor was so pristine that it seemed to glow. The duvet on the bed looked irresistibly soft and fluffy, as did the white feather pillows.

"You'll find that your bath has already been prepared, Miss…" the elf trailed off, obviously unsure of what to call Mei.

"Oh, my name's Mei," Mei filled in.

"Ah," the elf said, smiling. "I'll be back to help you get ready for Lord Elrond's grand dinner later this afternoon, Miss Mei." She left, closing the door softly behind her.

Mei finally noticed the large marble bathing tub in the corner of the room. An array of pastel-colored soaps were arranged on a small pine table next to the tub, along with a bottle of what looked like the Elven version of shampoo.

"Awesome…" she breathed.

After Mei had bathed, the elf returned, carrying a pastel pink dress, along with several silver accessories.

"That bath was so great," Mei said. Once out of the bathing tub, she had found her skin to be baby-soft, and her hair to be shinier than it had ever been in her entire life. "I wish we had that kind of shampoo on Earth."

The elf looked slightly confused at Mei's mention of Earth, but quickly recovered. "Would you allow me to help you into your dress, Miss Mei?" she asked.

"Sure," Mei said. "But why do I have to wear a dress?"

"It is customary for guests of Lord Elrond to dress up in finery for their first dinner here in Rivendell," the elf told her, sliding the dress over her head.

The peach-colored fabric of the dress was smooth and shiny, just like silk. It hugged her body, but not in a way that made her feel self-conscious or uncomfortable. In fact, the way that the dress highlighted her curves made her feel more confident in herself than any piece of clothing had ever made her feel. The dress was like those worn by Asian royalty, floor-length and trim to body of the wearer.

"This dress is gorgeous," Mei said, looking at herself in the floor-length mirror they stood in front of.

"Time for your hair," the elf said, gently guiding Mei into a cushioned chair stationed in front of a mirrored vanity.

As the elf brushed, curled and arranged Mei's usually tangled strands of pitch-black hair, Mei found herself noticing things about herself that she'd never seen before. That scratch on her cheek. A branch had whipped by her cheek while riding through the forest, and given her a tiny cut. It didn't hurt, but Mei thought it made her look tougher, and she found herself smiling at her reflection.

"All done," the elf said after a long while, pinning a tiny silver crown onto the front of Mei's updo.

"Woah," Mei was startled to see her finished look in the mirror. The elf had drawn most of her hair back into an elaborate bun of braids. Two loose, curled strands of hair framed her face, and various silver ornaments had been pinned in throughout.

"You look beautiful, Miss Mei," the elf said, smiling.

"Thank you…" Mei said. She turned to the elf. "What is your name?"

"Celebreneth, Miss Mei," the elf said, bowing.

"Well, Celebreneth," Mei said, looking at her reflection one more time. "You did a pretty epic job. If the girls at my high school could see what you could do, they'd all come clambering to you to style their hair for prom."

"Prom?" Celebreneth asked curiously.

"Sorry, never mind," Mei said, dismissing the conversation. Her stomach gurgled. "You said we were having dinner with Lord Elrond?" she asked. "I could do with some food right now."

"You'll find the dining hall just down this corridor," Celebreneth informed.

"Thanks again," Mei said, and hurried out the door. She was _really_ hungry.

Just as she was about halfway down the hallway to the dining hall, someone bumped into her.

"Ouch!" she cried. The person had stepped on her foot, which she now could feel throbbing slightly inside the silver slippers she wore.

"I'm very sorry, miss," a familiar voice said. "Please forgive me for my clumsiness."

"Kili!" she exclaimed, turning to face her friend. "I was wondering where all you dwarves got off to!"

"Mei?!" Kili breathed, taking in her appearance. "Wow… umm, err, you look… wow…" For the first time since they had met, Kili was the one scrambling for words and blushing furiously instead of Mei.

"Yeah, these elves have got some pretty cool clothes," Mei said, trying to save the awkward situation.

"They gave _me_ this idiotic button-down jacket," Kili argued, gesturing to his white outfit. Despite Kili's complaints, Mei thought that he looked absolutely adorable in his white suit and with his neatly combed hair, and couldn't stop her heart from beating about ten times faster.

"Well, you certainly look handsome, Kili," Mei blurted before she could stop herself.

Kili smirked. "I'm glad at least something good came from wearing this uncomfortable joke of a jacket," he said, bowing to her with an air of mock formality. "I have earned a compliment from the stunning Miss Mei," he held out his arm for her to take. "Might I add, you look _gorgeous_ tonight, my dear," he said, with a huge grin.

Mei was quite sure her heart had just stopped. She knew that what Kili had been saying was just an act, a joke, of sorts, but she couldn't help but believe him.

She took his arm with a smile, and they walked, hand in hand, towards the dining hall.

* * *

 **This was probably one of my favorite chapters to write so far. I know that basically all romantic Hobbit fanfictions with a girl main character use Rivendell as the budding for the romance, and that the girl will walk out in some fancy dress and the boy will be like, "woah!" and there begins their serious romance. But I just couldn't resist doing the same-sorry! Haha! But I tried to redirect the attention to Mei's dress more towards her feeling confident and good about herself in it, rather than her just feeling beautiful (hope that made sense, haha).**

 **Anyways, I'd love it if you could review, favorite or follow! All follows, favorites and reviews mean the world to me!**


	8. Chapter 8: The Hobbit's Doubts

The dining hall was just as magnificent as the rest of Rivendell. There were arching ceilings, gorgeous windows and, most of all, there were the elves themselves. All of them were bustling about, carrying silver platters of breads and vegetables. Mei could even see that there were several elves playing harps and flutes at a corner of the hall.

 _These elves are really living the life_ , she thought to herself, taking in her surroundings.

Even Kili, whom Mei knew hated most elves, was stunned by the beauty of the hall.

Then, at the far end of the hall, Mei saw Gandalf, Elrond, Thorin and Bombur sitting at a long table.

"There they are!" she exclaimed, pointing, and she and Kili ran down the hall to reach them.

"Ah, Kili! And Miss Mei!" Gandalf gestured to two of the high-backed wooden chairs. "We're just waiting for the rest of the company to get here."

Mei sat down next to Gandalf, and Kili sat next to her.

"Mei," Gandalf said, looking at her. "There is to be a council of Middle Earth's guardians-myself, Lady Galadriel, Saruman and Lord Elrond-later tonight. We have some… er… _important_ matters to discuss, regarding Middle Earth's safety. But, your future-seeing powers have intrigued the others as much as they have intrigued me. Would you mind making an appearance and shedding some light on your powers?"

Mei _almost_ screamed, "heck yeah!" at the wizard, but quickly restrained herself. _Be ladylike, Mei! Don't make it weird_. "I'd love to," she said. She was going to be a part of Elrond's council! How freaking cool was that?

The other dwarves had started to enter the dining hall as well, all of them dressed in outfits similar to Kili's.

"I sense that a quest is driving your company," Elrond said to Thorin, with a significant look. "A quest to reclaim a homeland."

"What business is it of yours?" Thorin snarled. Mei silently remarked that nearly half of what Thorin said was either hissed or screamed.

"There are some that would not deem it wise," Elrond replied, ignoring Thorin's question.

Thorin just grumbled, obviously trying to think up a snarky response.

"What is this?" Bofur asked, holding up a vegetable that looked more like a leaf than actual food.

"I don't like green things," Nori said, much like Kili had on that first night in Bag End.

"Just try it," Mei told Nori. "It'll be good!"

"Have you tried it?" Nori asked.

"Well, no…" Mei admitted. "But I'll try it right now!" She bit into the leafy vegetable, and immediately felt the urge to vomit. "That might be the worst thing I've ever had," she gagged.

"Told you!" Nori said, laughing.

Even Elrond smiled. "Our food can taste strange to those who have not grown up eating it. Many who try out vegetables for the first time react similarly to you, Mei."

Mei chugged the glass of water she had been given to wash away the taste of the bitter vegetable.

The dwarves had soon formulated a sort of drinking game using the Elven vegetables-whoever could eat the most of them without throwing up won.

The elves eating at the other tables in the hall threw disgusted looks at the dwarves, but Elrond, Gandalf and Mei found it quite amusing.

It wasn't long before all the vegetables and Elven bread (which was actually quite good) were gone, and the dinner had concluded. Dwalin had won the vegetable-eating contest, but Fili had also succeeded in stuffing the most slices of bread into his mouth out of anyone (with his younger brother coming in at a close second).

"The council will be held in that tower," Gandalf told Mei after everyone had started to leave the hall, pointing to a tower not far from where they stood. "Be there when the moon has reached it's peak."

"When the moon has reached it's _what_?" Mei asked, not familiar with how the people of Middle Earth measured time.

"Just start heading over there when you see more than a few stars lighting the sky," Gandalf said. The sky currently was lit by only three stars.

"Okay," Mei said, hoping she wouldn't forget Gandalf's instructions. How embarrassing would it be if she arrived late to her first (and probably _only_ ) council meeting ever?

Mei had been watching the sky from her room, checking every few moments to see if any more stars had appeared. Once the sky outside her window was spattered with at least fifteen stars, she headed out into the hallway and began making her way to the tower Gandalf had pointed to earlier.

As she was passing a small balcony, however, she saw a figure looking over the edge, seemingly taking in the beauty of Rivendell at night.

Mei figured she had some time to spare, so she headed over to see who it was standing on the balcony.

The figure turned when he heard her coming, and Mei found herself looking at the company's burglar, Bilbo Baggins.

"Hey, Bilbo!" she said, coming over to stand next to him.

"Good evening, Miss Mei," Bilbo said. His voice sounded sad.

"Is everything alright?" she asked, looking over at the hobbit.

"It's just…" Bilbo turned away from her. "I'm thinking of staying here in Rivendell when the company leaves."

"What?!" Mei exclaimed. "You can't do that! You're part of the company now!" She found herself quoting the exact words Bofur had spoken to Bilbo in the goblin caves in _The Hobbit_.

"I'm not though, am I?" Bilbo said, exactly like Mei remembered he had said to Bofur in the books.

"Bilbo, you are more important to this quest than you realize," she said to him. When he looked at her skeptically, she added, "remember how I can tell the future and all that stuff?"

"Yes?" Bilbo answered.

"Well, you have a _very_ important part to play in this story, Bilbo Baggins," Mei told him, trying to sound encouraging. "Without you… well, without you, the book, _The Hobbit_ wouldn't be called _The Hobbit_ , now would it?"

"I suppose," Bilbo said, but he didn't look convinced.

"The company needs you," Mei said. "You're our burglar!"

"I just feel like such an outsider when I'm with them," Bilbo said, looking back out at the scenery before them.

"I'm an outsider too, remember?" Mei said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not a dwarf either! I'm a human from another world-that makes me even more of a outsider than you!"

"But you've managed to fit in," Bilbo said. "Thorin appreciates your powers, and he knows the company wouldn't function without you. But me…" he trailed off, his voice breaking a little. "The company doesn't need me."

"Yes they do!" Mei cried, remember how important Bilbo was in _The Hobbit_. "They may not see your great worth now, but they will soon. Trust me, I know."

"Really?" Bilbo asked, looking hopeful.

"Umm, _yeah_!" Mei said. "You save all of their lives like ten billion times later on."

"That is a comforting thought," Bilbo said, smiling at her. "A strange one, but comforting nonetheless."

"So do you promise to come with us when we leave Rivendell?" Mei asked.

"Alright," Bilbo said, nodding. "I will."

"Yay!" Mei cried. Then, she looked up at the sky, and saw that it was crowded with stars. "Oh god," she muttered. "I'm late!"

"For what?" Bilbo asked.

"This fancy-schmancy council with Elrond and Gandalf and Galadriel-I've gotta go!" she took off at a sprint towards the tower where the meeting was to be held, hoping she wasn't _too_ late.


	9. Chapter 9: If I Am To Die

"Miss Mei," Gandalf said, when Mei had burst through the doors of the meeting room. "At last."

"Am I late?" Mei asked, breathless from her sprint to the meeting room.

"Yes!" Saruman barked at the same time that Gandalf said, "of course not!"

"Oh my gosh, it's so cool to see you guys!" Mei cried, ignoring Saruman's comment. There, right in front of her was the Lady Galadriel, who was even more magnificent and beautiful than Mei had ever imagined. She smiled at Mei.

Even Saruman, who seemed to be rather annoyed with her, couldn't be described by a word other than "swag." His beard was an ombre of grey and white, and his robes were so long and flowing that it looked as though he were swathed in an endless stream of fabric.

"So, this is the girl you have told me about, Mithrandir," Saruman said, looking at Mei. "Tell me," he seemed to be speaking to her. "Can you really see the future?"

"Yes, sir," Mei said.

"Sit," Saruman ordered, pointing to a chair across from where he was sitting.

"Umm, okay," she said, awkwardly shuffling over to the chair.

"Tell me all that you know," Saruman said.

And so Mei explained the entirety of _The Hobbit_ and _The Lord of the Rings_ to the council. They listened intently, all of them hanging onto her every word. She also included the information about the characters that died in both books-Thorin, Kili, Fili, Boromir… even Saruman himself.

"So I die?" Saruman asked, looking disappointed.

"Yes," Mei said, bowing her head. "I'm sorry, sir."

"And I come back from the dead?" Gandalf asked, seeming pleased with himself.

"Yeah," Mei replied.

"And my daughter stays behind and doesn't leave to the Undying Lands?!" Elrond half screamed, half sobbed.

"Yes, but she lives a long and happy life with Aragorn, sir," Mei said, trying to comfort the elf.

"Have you informed Thorin and his nephews of their… of their predicament?" Gandalf asked Mei.

"No," Mei replied.

"We shall have to do everything necessary to prevent their deaths," Gandalf muttered.

"What troubles me most is your mention of Sauron," Saruman said to Mei. "Perhaps you were correct Mithrandir. About the Morgul blade belonging to the Witch King of Angmar, that is."

"Maybe you guys can defeat Sauron? Like right now?" Mei asked hopefully. "Is he like, weaker right now or something?"

"Unfortunately, we cannot do anything to stop him now," Galadriel said. "He has grown too strong. If we had known that this… this _Necromancer_ was more than he seemed… we could have done something sooner."

"Mei," Elrond said, turning to her. "Have the events that have taken place so far in your adventures… have they matched up perfectly with what you have told us? Have they matched up with what you've read?"

"No," Mei replied. "In the book, _The Hobbit_ , that is, Bilbo doesn't sign the contract until much later. But a couple weeks ago, when we left Bag End, he had already signed it."

"Interesting," Elrond said, pacing around the table.

"And this Azog the Defiler…" Gandalf began. "When does he first attack the company?"

"Right after they escape from the goblin tunnels," Mei answered. "That's where Bilbo finds the One Ring, by the way," she added.

"Perhaps we can prevent Bilbo from finding the ring?" Elrond suggested. "That way, the ring remains hidden?"

"No," Saruman said. "According to this girl, Gollum, the creature that currently has the ring, is captured and searched by the orcs of Moria. If he has the ring on his person when they find him, Sauron will find the ring much faster. It is essential that Bilbo finds the ring."

"Maybe we can destroy the ring now?" Mei offered. "It would save Frodo a lot of trouble."

"The problem," Galadriel said. "Is that, like Mei said, the events about to happen are not exactly like the ones she has described. We can try as best we can to engineer these events to save as many people as possible, but you can only fight fate so much. Trying to control and engineer our way to safety may work in some cases, but in the grand scheme of things, I doubt it will work."

"What do you suggest we do then?" Saruman objected.

"I suggest that we let the events unfold," Galadriel said. "Naturally. Of course, Mei can try and steer the company away from danger as best she can, but her efforts may be in vain, for it seems that events do not happen here exactly like she has read about."

"But what about Kili?" Mei blurted. "What about Thorin? And Fili?"

"I'm sure you can find a way to protect them," Elrond said, dismissing the matter far too casually for Mei's liking.

Saruman interjected, "after the hobbit-Frilbo, or whatever his name was-finds the ring, how are we going to-"

Mei's hearing was muffled, as a new voice entered her head. It was the voice of Galadriel.

"You are worried about your friend, the dwarf-prince," Galadriel's voice whispered. "You have lied to him." The words "lied to him" seemed to echo inside her head for a moment.

Mei looked around at the other council members, but, as she had suspected, the words Galadriel was speaking to her were only in her head. Nobody else could hear them.

"You must tell the dwarf about his true fate," Galadriel's voice told her. "He must know. He must be prepared."

"I don't want to scare him," Mei told Galadriel inside her head. "And besides… he'll _hate_ me once I tell him the truth."

"He will forgive you," Galadriel said. "He will understand that your actions came from your intent to help him."

"But what if he doesn't?" Mei asked. Selfish as it might be, she didn't want her bond (Friendship? Romantic relationship?), whatever it might be categorized as, to end. He was her best friend.

"He will," Galadriel replied, her words echoing again in Mei's head.

Even though the council still seemed to be deliberating, Mei knew she had to act now-she had to tell Kili the truth-or else she'd lose her nerve. Galadriel's words seemed to have some sort of impact on her, as if they were giving her the confidence to go do what she had to do-if only for a short while.

"I've gotta go!" she exclaimed with one last look at Galadriel (who was smiling encouragingly at her), interrupting what Saruman had been saying. Without allowing any time for them to react, she jumped out of her chair and dashed out of the room.

When she reached the corridor where the dwarves were staying, she found Balin about to enter his room.

"Balin!" she cried, out of breath.

"What is it, lassie?" Balin asked, looking concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Mei breathed. "Do you know where Kili is?"

"I saw him near the balconies a few halls down-"

"Okay, thanks!" Mei took off towards the balconies without missing a beat.

She found Kili standing near the railing of one of the balconies.

"Mei?" he asked, turning when he heard her stampeding footsteps.

"Hey," she said, grabbing onto the railing. All of that running had seriously tired her out-no wonder she always finished last when they had to run the mile in gym class.

"Are you alright?" Kili asked, just like Balin had.

"I'm fine," she said, forcing herself to look at him directly. "There's something… there's something I need to tell you."

"What do you mean?" Kili asked. "Are you sure you're alright? You seem really… serious."

"Y'know how when you asked me… when you asked me if you… if you di-" Mei couldn't bring herself to say the word "died." "Remember how you asked me if you'd still be alive after the journey?"

"Yes?" Kili asked, looking confused. "And you told me that everyone would be fine."

Mei had started crying now. She wasn't usually a very emotional person, but for some reason her feelings were just flowing out of her.

"Mei," Kili said, reaching out to put an arm around her. "What's wrong?"

She pulled away from him. "You're going to hate me once I tell you…"

"Tell me what?" Kili asked, wiping one of her tears away. Normally, his touch would have had her heart doing flip-flops inside of her, but she was too flooded with emotions for any of that to happen right now.

"Kili," she said, forcing herself to look him in the eye again. "Kili, I-I… I, lied. I lied to you, Kili. In the books, you don't... " she inhaled sharply. "You die, Kili. In the books, you die. And so does your brother, and so does Thorin. And I didn't want to tell you…" Mei collapsed against the balcony rail and slid down to the floor, sobbing. "Kili, I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…" she babbled, her ramblings probably incomprehensible buried within her crying.

She could sense Kili processing what he had told her. His breathing had quickened and had begun to come in shuddering heaves. But he crouched down next to her and pulled her close next to him.

"Mei," he whispered into her hair. "I don't hate you, alright? You didn't lie for a bad reason like some people do. You lied for a good reason, because you are kind, and you care about others.

"If I am to…" Kili's voice faltered for a moment. "If I am to... die, then I would hope it would be for a good cause. I would hope, that I died saving someone. I would hope, that I died a hero, and not a coward."

"Kili," Mei whispered. "I'm going to try and save you, okay? I'm not going to let you die."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"Should we tell the others?" Mei asked, after awhile. "Thorin, and Fili, I mean?"

"Probably," Kili said. He seemed to have been crying a little too, but he was hasty to wipe his tears away.

Then, Mei noticed that she had soaked his jacket through with tears. "Will we still be friends, even though I ruined your jacket?" she asked, smiling at him.

Kili feigned a look of horror when he saw the soiled jacket. "Although I will take the loss of this jacket to the heart, I will forgive you," he grinned, and tossed the jacket over the balcony railing. "You gave me an excuse to rid myself of that awful, uncomfortable torture device," he said. "And for that, I am grateful."


	10. Chapter 10: The Goblin Ambush

"Tell me everything," Thorin said. Kili and Mei had gone to find Thorin and Fili after Mei had explained to Kili that there was much more to _The Hobbit_ 's story than she had been letting on.

Mei inwardly grumbled-not an hour before, Saruman had demanded the same thing of her. Couldn't Gandalf have scheduled a joint meeting so that she'd only have to recite the entirety of _The Hobbit_ and _The Lord of the Rings_ once? But she obliged, and told Thorin the story of _The Hobbit_ , the book she had read at least fifteen times back on Earth.

She did, however, leave out the parts about Bilbo finding the Arkenstone and keeping it from Thorin, and the One Ring being found by Bilbo in the goblin tunnels. Mei figured that it was best that Thorin remained oblivious to some of Bilbo's actions for both his own sake and Bilbo's.

"Azog," Thorin said, his words barely audible beneath the layers of hatred and venom in his voice. Mei was surprised at how unfazed he was by the fact that he would die within a year, and how fixated he was instead on the return of Azog the Defiler. But, Azog _had_ killed Thorin's grandfather and countless other dwarves, so she kind of understood. "So that orc-scum has returned," Thorin's knuckles whitened as his hands clenched into fists.

"Mei?" Fili asked, seemingly much more swayed by the possibility of his own death. "Is there any way that you can… that you can _prevent_ us three from dying?"

"I'll try my best," Mei said, wishing she could offer more comfort to the sad dwarf. "As I said, the events that happen here aren't exactly like the books. So, in this adventure, I could be wrong-maybe all of you will survive and it wasn't ever worth worrying about it." She said that last bit as much for Fili's sake as for her own.

* * *

It was dark out by the time the company set up camp. They were stationed somewhere in the woods at the foot of the Misty Mountains. The company had left Rivendell not two days ago, and they had been venturing carefully through the woods ever since. Thanks to Mei's account of the dwarves' capture by the goblins in those very mountains, Gandalf had told them, they would be able to pass through a much safer path where goblins had not been seen for centuries. But Gandalf's plan and assurances didn't stop Mei from worrying that something might go wrong.

And then something did go wrong.

Mei was in the middle of helping Oin with gathering firewood, when a scream echoed through the night. It sounded a lot like Nori.

Thorin, who was closest to where the scream had originated from, leaned out towards the dense trees to listen more closely. Even from where Mei stood, she could hear pounding footsteps coming from the same direction.

"Goblins," Thorin spat, running back towards the camp. "Goblins!" he yelled, more loudly, so that those farthest away from him could hear. "Gather up your weapons!"

"Goblins?" Gandalf asked incredulously, standing up from the rock he had been sitting on to smoke his pipe. "How?"

But nobody had time to answer Gandalf's question, because at that very moment, a stampede of goblins burst through the trees. Thorin, who was closest to the oncoming army, pulled out his sword and beheaded the goblin at the front of the group.

Dwalin and Fili (who hadn't been far behind Thorin) quickly killed their first goblins as well.

"Run, lassie!" Oin whispered to her, pointing back towards the camp. "Get Bilbo and hide in the trees! If the battle goes ill, run back to Rivendell!"

"I can't just leave the company!" Mei protested.

"Run!" Oin ordered, pulling out his own shortsword. "And _don't_ get involved in the battle, lass! Whatever you do!"

"Umm, okay!" Mei said, her eyes widening as she saw more and more goblins ambushing the lone three fighters (Thorin, Dwalin and Fili).

She ran back towards the camp, the adrenaline in her body propelling her forward faster than she had ever run before.

When she did reach the camp, she dared a glance back at the battle. Four more dwarves, Oin, Balin, Kili and Gloin, as well as Gandalf, had joined the fight.

 _Please be okay, please be okay_ , Mei hoped. _Please let everyone be okay_.

But she was startled out of her thoughts when a particularly ugly goblin let out a nasally battle cry directly behind her. Mei screamed, and quickly slid to the right as the goblin's sword sliced through the air where she had just been standing.

"Hello, my pretty," the goblin sneered, slashing his blade through the air a couple of times.

"Get away!" Mei screamed, even though she knew it wouldn't do any good. She looked around her, desperate to find anything-even a semi-sharp stick would do-that she could use to fend off the goblin's vicious attacks.

But all she could find was a (sort of?) pointed rock. _Maybe if I throw this at the goblin's head hard enough, it'll knock him out_? Her trembling hands grasped the rock and she hurled it at the goblin.

It flipped through the air a couple of times, and then landed lamely at least four feet away from it's target.

 _That's why nobody ever wanted you on their team when we played football_ , Mei reminded herself, her heart beating even faster as the goblin grew nearer. She tried to back up even farther, but she soon felt a solid surface behind her. The rock wall of a cave. She couldn't back up any more.

 _Damn it!_ she thought to herself, trying her best to calm her racing heartbeat. _Think, Mei! Think!_

The goblin thrust his sword at her, but she managed to dodge it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bilbo running towards her, a glowing sword clutched in his hand. "Mei!" he cried.

"Bilbo, no!" she cried. The likelihood of her dying at the hands of this nasty goblin was pretty high, but she didn't want to Bilbo to die saving her too.

But Bilbo ignored her ( _damn the stubbornness of hobbits_!) and kept running towards them. His face was set in a look of determination, but Mei knew he had never even used that sword before. Besides, the hobbit was too far away to reach her in time. The goblin would surely kill her before then.

Slightly distracted by Bilbo's sudden appearance, Mei just barely dodged the goblin's next attack, escaping the reach of his swinging sword with a cut on her shoulder. She could feel a prickling pain where the weapon had sliced her, but she gritted her teeth and forced her stupid brain to _think of a freaking plan._

Then, she spied Kili's belongings-his rucksack, bedroll and empty quiver-lying just a few feet away. She had an idea.

Mei nearly forgot to pay attention to the goblin in front of her, and almost got stabbed through again by his sword. She earned another scratch, this time closer to her hip.

 _I can't keep dodging these attacks_ , Mei thought to herself, staggering towards Kili's belongings. The cut on her shoulder had started to throb, and her vision was beginning to cloud slightly. The goblin was chasing her, and he was extremely fast-much faster than Mei. She had a one or two second lead on him though, so if she acted quickly enough, her plan just might work.

She lunged for Kili's rucksack, and threw open the flap. Behind her, the goblin stabbed his sword into the ground where she was lying, and she just managed to roll away in time.

"C'mon, c'mon," Mei mumbled, searching frantically through Kili's rucksack. The goblin was preparing to deliver the final blow. He was standing over her now-there was no escaping him.

Finally, she found what she was looking for-a small dagger. She had seen Kili pop it into his knapsack when they were packing that night at Bag End. Since the bow and arrow was his weapon of choice, he hadn't taken it with him when he went to join the battle. She pulled the dagger out of the bag as quickly as she could, and flipped over to face the goblin, whose blade was mere centimeters from her stomach.

Both of them thrust their weapons toward each other with as much force as they could, fueled by both bitter hatred and the powerful desire to live. Each weapon found it's target. Yet, one of them was still alive.

But only barely.

* * *

 **Oh my... the intensity... haha! :) If you could leave a review, like or follow, that would make my day! Thank you to everyone who has supported this story thus far... you are seriously some special unicorns.**


	11. Chapter 11: I'm Staying Behind

~ From Kili's POV ~

Another arrow. Another goblin dead.

Kili had killed at least thirty goblins so far, and the attack was finally over. The other dwarves and Gandalf had all killed their fair share of the ambushers as well.

"More will come," Thorin said, pulling his bloodied sword out of a dead goblin's chest. "We must keep moving."

"How did they know we were here?" Balin asked Gandalf. "According to Miss Mei, we were never supposed to encounter the goblins as long as we stayed away from the mountain caves.

 _Mei_ … Kili's mind raced. In the midst of the frantic battle, he had forgotten to check to be sure she was alright. _You're so stupid, Kili!_ he scolded himself. _What if she's hurt?_

"Have any of you seen Mei?" he asked the others around him.

"I told her to take Bilbo with her and hide in the trees over there," Oin told Kili. "The last I saw her, she was running back towards the camp."

"Find the girl and the hobbit," Thorin ordered to Fili and Kili. He turned back to the other dwarves. "The rest of you-pack up. We need to get out of here."

Kili and his brother raced back towards the makeshift camp. There were large boulders obscuring most of the camp, so the two of them split up to search behind each of the massive rocks.

He had just finished checking behind three of the boulders when he heard Fili call, "Kili? You'd better come. Quick!"

Without missing a beat, Kili dashed towards the direction of his brother's voice. When he found Fili standing behind one of the boulders, his heart fell. Bilbo was leaning over a body-Mei's body-sobbing. There was a dead goblin lying next to her, Kili's own dagger plunged into his chest. But Mei… the goblin's sword was buried in her stomach, and she looked to be… no, no, no. _No_! Mei couldn't be dead. She couldn't be.

An anguished cry escaped Kili's lips, and he fell to his knees. Somewhere, he heard his brother's voice, trying to comfort him. But Fili seemed so very far away.

Mei was dead. And he had done nothing, nothing at all, to help her.

Then, Bilbo's voice penetrated Kili's grief-stricken senses. "She's alive! Just barely, but she has a pulse!"

"What?" Kili half-cried, half-laughed. "She's alive?"

"But she needs medicine or something," Bilbo said, examining Mei's bloody wounds. "Isn't Oin a healer or something? Can he help her?"

"I'll go get him," Fili said, and, with one last concerned look at both Mei and his brother, and ran off to alert to rest of the company.

Kili stumbled to join Bilbo, and looked down at Mei's motionless body. _He should have been there. He should have been there to help her_.

"I'm sorry, Kili," Bilbo whispered. "I tried to get to her in time, but the goblin was too fast."

Kili wished Fili would hurry up. He wasn't sure he could wait for Oin much longer. For each second they wasted, Mei grew weaker. And it was driving him mad.

Finally, Fili came running back, the rest of the company behind him.

"Oh my," Bofur gasped, clamping a hand over his mouth.

Oin crouched beside Kili and Bilbo, taking a look at Mei's injuries. "I think I can help her," he said at last.

Kili breathed a shuddering sigh of relief. _She was going to be alright_.

"But it'll take at least two hours," Oin said, grimacing. "And another six before she can walk again."

"That's too long," Thorin said, turning away. "We have to leave here at once."

"It's the only way, Thorin," Oin said.

Thorin exhaled, then faced the company again. "Leave her here," he said, his voice shadowed by guilt and sadness. "We do not have time to let her recover."

"Uncle!" Fili cried, astounded. "We cannot just leave her here to die!"

"Thorin!" Gandalf cried. "This is madness!"

Kili looked at his uncle, anger clouding his eyes. "How can you be so heartless?" he sobbed.

"I cannot risk the fate of this quest and this company for one girl," Thorin said, avoiding eye contact with his nephews. With one last pained look at Mei, he started walking away from the group. "We cannot take this chance. More goblins will come, and if we dawdle here, more of us will be injured."

"I'm not leaving her here!" Kili yelled after his uncle.

"Kili, don't be a fool," Thorin said, turning to face his youngest nephew. "When we leave this camp, you will come with us."

"No," Kili said, shaking his head. "I'm going to stay here, with Mei. I'm going to heal her."

"You know nothing about healing, Kili," Thorin sighed. "You will not be able to save her."

"But I will," Oin said. "I'll stay with the lad. I admire you, Thorin, but I do not agree with this decision of yours."

"Neither do I," Gandalf said. "I respect your authority to give orders in this company, but I will not obey this one."

"I'm staying too," Bilbo added. "If I just left Mei here, I'd never forgive myself."

"Very well," Thorin frowned at the four of them. "The rest of you," he addressed the company. "Follow me."

"Uncle," Fili said. "I'm staying with my brother."

"What?" Thorin whirled on his nephew.

"You're always going on about loyalty," Fili said, looking as if standing up to his uncle was difficult. "And leaving a member of the company behind-that's just not right. I'm sorry uncle, but I won't come with you."

Thorin grabbed Fili by the arm. "One day," he said. "You will be king, and you will understand. I cannot risk all of your lives for the possibility of saving just one. Don't be a fool, Fili. You must come with us."

"No," Fili said, and broke out of Thorin's grip. "I'm staying behind."


	12. Chapter 12: Into the Caves

Ever since getting stabbed by that stupid goblin's sword, Mei had been unconscious. She had heard voices around her a few hours ago-or had that been a few days ago? Her sense of time had been completely warped, and she didn't quite remember where she was anymore. She just lay there, in a state between life and death.

Every once in awhile, she'd be "alive" enough to experience searing pains, presumably from the wound on her stomach. But every time this happened, the pain has lessened, getting less apparent each time. Was she being cured? She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure about anything now.

And then, after what seemed like eons of darkness and pain and more darkness, Mei felt her senses awaken. Her body felt like it had that night she had landed in the grassy meadow in Hobbiton. She could feel the weight of her eyelids against her eyes, the tickle of grass on her arms. Mei even felt the dull throbbing of her wound, as well as a sore prickle where the goblin's sword had grazed her shoulder and hip. But she was alive, and that alone was enough to make her heart sing for joy.

She opened her eyes, slowly, allowing them to adjust to the bright sunshine. _How many day was I unconscious_? she wondered, trying to sit up. But she quickly lay back down as soon as her stomach wound loudly protested. Wincing a little, Mei looked at her surroundings. She was in the same spot where she had been stabbed-behind the boulder near the camp. The grass around her had been imprinted with footprints, informing her that people had been walking around near her.

But what caught her attention was the dark-haired dwarf leaning up against the boulder and dozing. He was snoring softly, his breath coming out in soft plumes.

"Kili!" she cried, overjoyed to see her friend. Her voice was slightly cracked, probably because she hadn't spoken in what seemed like forever, but Kili heard her nonetheless. His eyes flew open, and he grinned when he saw her.

"Mei! I'm so happy you're alright!" He scooted closer to her, and said with another smile, "I would hug you, but seeing as you're… er… on the mend, I'll spare you the pain."

Mei laughed, relieved to see that Kili's good spirits had endured. "Where is everyone?" Mei asked.

Kili hesitated slightly. "Oin, Gandalf, Bilbo and Fili are behind this boulder," he said at last, and nodded at the huge rock that loomed over them.

"I'm glad that they're alright," Mei sighed. "But what about the rest of the company? Thorin, Balin, Bofur… where are they?"

His face darkened.

"They're… alive, right?" Mei asked hopefully.

"Yes, they're all alright," Kili said, although there was a bitter edge to his voice.

"So…?" Mei prompted him. "Where are they?"

"They left," Kili said.

" _Left_?" Mei asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Thorin didn't think it was wise to dawdle here," Kili said, his voice laced with anger. "So he wanted to leave you behind. He thought that if we lingered here too long, the goblins would return."

Mei processed this for a moment, feelings of betrayal swirling through her mind.

Kili continued, "and so Oin, Gandalf, Bilbo, Fili and I all stayed behind to help you recover."

The two of them were silent for a moment.

"Thank you," Mei said at last, reaching out to touch Kili's hand.

"That's what friends are for, right?" Kili said, plastering what looked like a fake smile on his face. Mei could tell that refusing to follow his uncle's orders had taken it's toll on the young dwarf-prince. It must have been hard, she figured, to disobey someone you had trusted and known all your life.

Their silence-this time a more comfortable one-was broken by approaching footsteps. From around the boulder came Bilbo and Fili, who must have heard the two of them talking.

"Mei!" Bilbo cried. "You're alright!"

"We were ever so worried!" Fili added, as both of them came and sat down next to Kili.

Oin and Gandalf came to join the three of them, huge smiles on their faces.

"It's good to see that you're alright," Gandalf said, chuckling.

"I tried my best to heal your wound," Oin said. "But you'll likely carry it's scar for the rest of your life."

"It's a good thing you had Kili here!" Fili said, pounding his brother on the back. "He hardly left your side!"

Kili blushed a little, but everyone else laughed.

"Kili told me about what happened," Mei began, after the laughs had subsided. "About Thorin."

The rest of them stiffened slightly.

"And I'd just like to say, that I really appreciate what all of you have done for me. I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you." She smiled at all of them. "Like, seriously. You guys are the best."

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Kili asked Mei, for what had to be the one millionth time.

"I'll be fine," she answered, giving him a reassuring smile.

The six of them (Gandalf, Fili, Oin, Bilbo, Kili and Mei) were setting out after the rest of the company. It had only been about three hours after Mei had awoken, and even though her wound still hurt, she had practiced walking with a wooden walking stick in laps around the camp (with Kili's help, of course) and was pretty confident in her ability to walk, and even run now. Besides, she was eager to start traveling again. They were at least a day and a half behind the rest of the company, and she didn't want to imagine what sorts of danger they may have encountered since then.

* * *

~ From Thorin's POV, one day earlier ~

It had been at least five hours since they had left his foolish nephews, the wizard, Oin, Bilbo and the girl behind. The company (or what was left of it, at least) kept throwing him looks that consisted of equal parts anger and admiration.

Thorin still felt guilty about what he had done. Leaving the girl behind like that? He just hoped that Oin would be able to cure her. He also hoped that the ones who had stayed behind would be able to catch up with them-being six members short of a full company would allot for some hardships along the way.

The remaining members of his company were whispering amongst themselves, probably forming an explanation as to how and why the goblins had ambushed them so far from the Misty Mountains. Thorin had been wondering about this as well, but he forced himself to push all of his rambling thoughts and feelings of regret and guilt aside so that he could focus.

Since Gandalf had left them to stay behind with the girl, Thorin wasn't exactly sure how to reach the safe path Gandalf had mentioned. According to the wizard, the path was far away from the goblin tunnels in the Misty Mountains, and if they reached it, they would be safe from their attacks. But where was the path?

Thorin had heard Gandalf say that the path was about a day's travel from where they had set up camp-where they had been ambushed. But six hours into said travel, and there was no sign of the thick forest clearing out.

Then, Thorin heard leaves crunching not far ahead of them. He quickly held up a hand to halt his company from walking any further. With a cautious hand on his sword hilt, he tried to listen to the sound more closely. It seemed as if a large group was heading their way, and they weren't making any effort to disguise their approach. As the leaf-crunching sounds grew louder, Thorin screamed, "run!"

But they hardly made it half a mile before the first goblins of the pack broke out from the trees and started racing towards them.

"More goblins?" Balin cried, pulling out his sword. "How?"

"Never mind that," Dwalin told his brother. "How are we going to kill 'em all? There must be at least a hundred!"

Thorin surveyed the oncoming army with a sense of impending dread. There was, in fact, at least a hundred goblins like Dwalin had said. There was no way that their company of nine could defeat an army like that.

"Thorin!" Balin yelled. "What do we do?"

"Keep running!" Thorin commanded. "Try to find the safe path. Maybe we can outrun them!" He knew it was unlikely that nine dwarves could outrun an entire pack of extremely fast goblins, but it was their only hope.

The company dashed blindly through the forest, desperately trying to seek out any traces of a path nearby.

"In there!" Dwalin cried, pointing his axe at a nearby cave.

"Mei warned us not to go into any caves!" Bofur exclaimed. "She said that if we did, the goblin king would capture us!"

Thorin's mind raced. Was it better to have a high likelihood of dying immediately at the hands of the goblin army chasing them, or an even higher likelihood of dying in a prolonged period of time at the hands of the goblin king? Finally, he made his decision.

"Into the caves!" he cried.

* * *

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	13. Chapter 13: I Have Found His Prize

"These tracks are strange," Kili said, bending down to examine a series of grass imprints.

"They are indeed," Gandalf said, looking concerned. "It looks as if an entire army passed through here.

"Was it the same goblins that attacked us back at the camp?" Mei asked. The six of them had been trekking through the forest for several hours now. But their efforts had brought them about three hours behind the company. There had been no sign of them yet, but Mei hoped that they would rejoin with them soon. Her wounds had been hurting, and every so often she would trip and fall (Kili was always there to catch her), but the walking stick she had fashioned out of an old branch was helping her immensely.

"No, I don't think so," Gandalf said. "The goblins that ambushed us came from the north. Whatever creatures made these tracks were heading east, not north."

"Look!" Mei heard Fili shout. "I can see some caves up ahead!"

"Caves?" Mei asked worriedly. "We probably shouldn't go in there-the goblins have traps in nearly all the mountain caves."

"She's right," Oin said. "We shouldn't risk it."

"I think Thorin and the company passed this way!" Fili called back to them. "It looks like one of Bombur's soup ladles fell in the grass over here!"

"They passed this way?" Mei cried, _very_ concerned now. "They didn't do into the caves, did they?"

"I think they did," Gandalf said grimly. The tracks lead straight into the caves. I can see some familiar boot imprints, probably belonging to one of the dwarves, among all of these other strange tracks."

"Were they chased by goblins?" Kili asked.

"Perhaps," Gandalf said, peering into the caves.

"We have to go after them!" Fili cried. "If the caves really were rigged with traps, then they must have been taken captive by the goblins already!"

"It's too dangerous!" Mei protested. "If we go after them, we'll only get ourselves caught too!"

"But we can't just let them die!" Fili yelled back.

Mei sighed. She thought about pointing out that Thorin had been all too eager to leave _her_ behind to die, but she restrained herself and relented. "Fine," she said, heading towards the caves. "Let's go after them."

* * *

~ From Thorin's POV, three hours earlier ~

It had been a mistake, venturing into the caves. Of course, if they hadn't, they would have died at the hands of the goblin army that had been chasing them. But the again, if they hadn't, they also wouldn't have had to deal with the goblin king.

The goblin king was massive-at least four times as tall as a grown dwarf. His chin extended down past his chest in a semi-translucent bubble-like flab of skin.

"Who would be so bold as to venture, armed, into my kingdom?" The goblin king got up from his wooden throne and stumbled towards the company. The dwarves' weapons had been taken from them, and now lay in a heap several feet away. Thorin instinctively made a move to get back his sword, but one of the goblins who had searched him held out a slimy, dirty arm to block him. The company was standing on a wooden platform, surrounded by tiers upon tiers of goblin onlookers. There must have been at least five thousand of the nasty brutes in this wretched place, Thorin figured.

"Spies? Thieves?" the goblin king continued, his voice growing higher with every word he spoke. "Assassins?

"Dwarves, your malevolence," a goblin informed his master.

"Dwarves?" The goblin king peered curiously down at the company.

"We found them on the front porch," the goblin added.

 _The front porch_ , Thorin scoffed inwardly. _So that is what you call that death trap_. As soon as the dwarves had entered the caves, the ground and caved inwards, causing the dwarves to fall down through seemingly endless darkness. Then, the company had landed in a wooden cage-like contraption (the "front porch") and had been searched, then hoarded through the goblin kingdom.

"What are you doing in these parts?" the goblin king demanded. When neither Thorin nor the rest of his company answered, the king cried, "speak!"

The silence continued.

"Very well!" The king took a step closer. "If they will not talk, we'll make them squawk!" The goblin onlookers cheered. "Bring up the Mangler!" he yelled. "Bring up the Bone-Breaker!"

Thorin could feel the dwarves shuddering next to him.

"We'll start with the youngest!" the king proclaimed. He eyed Ori with a maniacal grin. But before he could grab the poor dwarf by his mustache, Thorin sprang forward.

"Wait!" he cried.

"Well, well, well," the goblin king smirked. "Look who it is! Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror! King, Under the Mountain." He made a big show of bowing to Thorin, much to the goblins' amusement.

Thorin growled. He hated this monstrous brute. How dare the goblin king speak his father's, his grandfather's names?

"Oh, but I'm forgetting!" the goblin king stopped mid-bow, and smirked again. "You don't have a mountain. And you're not a king. So that makes you… nobody really."

Thorin bristled. He knew better than to let this goblin-scum's taunts get to him, but he couldn't help but believe the king's words just a little.

"I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head," the goblin king said, leaning forward a bit. "Just a head," he giggled. "Nothing attached."

The goblins guffawed loudly at this, pointing and jabbing fat fingers at Thorin.

"Perhaps you know of whom I speak," the king said, stepping back. "An old enemy of yours."

 _Azog_ … Thorin remembered the future-telling girl telling him about the return of the orc who had slain his grandfather.

"A pale orc," the king continued, confirming Thorin's thoughts. "Astride a white warg."

Thorin said nothing, not wanting to give this vile brute of a king the satisfaction of frightening him. But Thorin was frightened. Memories of the pale orc, of the dead bodies lying before the gates of Erebor, of his grandfather's head held aloft in Azog's hands… they all flooded back to him now, nearly bringing tears to his eyes.

"Send word to the pale orc," the king said to a small goblin who was strapped into a sort of swing mechanism. "Tell him I have found his prize."

Falling.

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The six of them had crept cautiously into the cave, only to find the floor to cave in beneath them. They had been falling down a dark chute for what seemed like forever.

And then, they fell, in a tangle of limbs and weapons, into a cage-like claw. Mei quickly got up, and immediately knew that they had fallen into the "front porch" of the underground goblin kingdom.

Kili got up next to her, and gulped nervously. "This isn't… this isn't the goblin kingdom, is it?" he asked.

"I'm afraid it is," Gandalf said, straightening.

"I told you we shouldn't have come here," Mei muttered to no one in particular.

A crowd of goblins came rushing towards them, chattering loudly.

"Ooh, more dwarves!" They giggled, giving Kili, Oin and Fili meaningful glances. "Your little friends arrived some time ago!"

"The company!" Kili cried. "We've found them!"

But his excitement was short-lived, as the goblins herded the six of them down a series of wooden planks and bridges. Mei could see that there was a tiered system surrounding them, with hundreds, maybe even thousands, of goblins watching them.

Then she remembered-this was where Bilbo was supposed to slip away and find Gollum! It was essential that he did so, because it was from Gollum that Bilbo took the One Ring. She turned to face the hobbit, who looked very frightened indeed by the many goblins surrounding them.

"Bilbo!" she whispered, so as not to draw too much attention to them. "You have to get out of here! Jump off this bridge here, and you'll find a creature named Gollum-well his real name is Smeagol, but that's besides the point-who will play a game of riddles with you. You'll also find a golden ring down there, which will make you turn invisible whenever you put it on."

"What?" Bilbo asked, confused.

"Just trust me, okay?" When we reach this bridge over there," she pointed towards the upcoming, rickety bridge. "I want you to slip out of this group of goblins and jump off, okay?"

"Umm," Bilbo said, looking doubtful. "Why do I have to do that?"

"Curse the stubbornness of hobbits!" Mei found herself hissing for the second time that day. "Just do as I say, okay?"

"If you say so…" Bilbo said, looking over the edge of the bridge with wide eyes.

"Oh!" Mei cried, nearly forgetting to tell him something important. "Don't kill Gollum, okay? He's really important, and he needs to stay alive. Oh, and the answers to the riddles Gollum asks you are: a mountain, wind, dark, fish and time. You'll figure out the rest on your own-you're smart!"

"Alright then…" Bilbo muttered. "Mountain, wind, dark, fish… and what?"

"Time!" Mei answered. "Now go! Before it's too late!"

"I pray that you're right about all this, Mei!" Bilbo hissed. And with one last doubtful look at the dark abyss below him, he took a deep breath and jumped. She watched as the glowing blue light of his sword, Sting, fell farther and farther down. Then it's light went out.

"You'll be alright, Bilbo," she said, as a means of comforting herself. "You'll be alright." She just hoped that Gollum wouldn't be too nasty to the poor hobbit.

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	14. Chapter 14: The Rescue

~ From Thorin's POV ~

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When Thorin saw the goblin king squint at something in the distance behind Thorin, he was eager to see what was causing the king so much distress. When he turned around, he saw that a group of what looked like five, maybe six people was being herded towards them by a pack of goblins. His relief at a distraction for the goblin king soon fell away, however, when he saw that one member of the group was wearing a pointy grey hat.

 _Gandalf…_ Thorin muttered to himself. The rest of the company must have gone looking for them, and now they were _all_ trapped here, in this wretched stinkhole of a kingdom.

"More dwarves, your malevolence," a goblin at the front of the new pack explained. "Also on the front porch."

"Some of them don't look much like dwarves to me!" The king peered more closely at the six members. "One of 'em looks like a human!"

"That's because I am one, you dim-witted wretch!" Gandalf said, brandishing his staff.

"Get that staff away from that wizard!" the goblin king squealed, jumping back from Gandalf (an act that caused the whole kingdom to rumble and shake). "What have I told you 'bout searching new prisoners?"

The goblins scurried to search the six members of the company, but Gandalf was faster. With a spell that he cast using his staff, he caused the incoming goblins to slump into a deep sleep.

The goblin king took another few steps back from Gandalf.

"And you," the wizard turned to the king. But instead of casting a spell on him, he pulled out his own sword and slashed the king right across the chest. With a shriek of pain, the goblin king stumbled backwards… right off the edge of his wooden platform, and straight into the dark abyss below.

"Come, quickly!" Gandalf cried, without missing a beat. "Take up your weapons!"

Thorin wasted no time in following the wizard's orders. He picked up his sword, glad to be reunited with his Orcrist. Following Gandalf's lead, the now reunited company dashed down more wooden bridges and planks, desperate to get away from the squealing goblins that now followed them.

* * *

Mei had never been a great runner-gym class had never exactly been her strong suit. And now, with a throbbing wound at the center of her stomach, she found it harder than ever to keep up with the rest of the company.

She had made it this far along the series of complicated planks and bridges by stumbling forward a few steps, then steadying herself with her walking stick. But her progress was slow, and now even Bombur was several paces ahead of her.

 _C'mon, c'mon_ , she scolded herself, urging her pained limbs to move faster.

A particularly speedy goblin had caught up with her now, and grabbed her shirt. With a scream that was more high-pitched than Mei cared to admit, she tried to get away from him, but his grip was like iron.

 _These goblins really have it in for me_ , she thought to herself bitterly. The goblin that held her now was brandishing a curved sword at her, seeming ready to stab her right through the heart. Mei squirmed, trying to throw off the goblin's aim. It seemed to make it harder for him to find where to stab the sword, and he stopped for a moment, trying to adjust his grip on her shirt so that he could hold her body more still.

But before he could try and stab her again, another sword sliced the goblin's arm clean off. A hand grabbed her's, and Mei looked back at the sputtering goblin just long enough to see an arrow pierce his chest, killing the awful creature.

She glanced at owner of the hand leading her forward, only to find herself looking straight into Thorin's ice-blue eyes. But they didn't look as cold or unforgiving this time.

And behind his uncle, there stood Kili, pulling another arrow (identical to the one that had pierced the goblin) out of his quiver and killing another goblin behind them. He grinned at Mei, and started running alongside her and Thorin. "Don't worry, he said to her, in an exaggeratedly comforting tone that seemed as if it might be used to soothe a baby's nightmares. "We've got your back, lil' Mei."

"Oh, shut up Kili," she muttered, but Kili's grin only widened.

The three of them soon caught up with the rest of the company, only to find that they had reached the edge of the cliff. The goblins chasing them weren't far behind them.

"Do we jump?" Bofur asked the wizard.

Gandalf was silent for a moment, looking back and forth between the fast-approaching army and the sheer drop off the cliff before them. Finally, he yellled, "jump!"

The frightened dwarves didn't need to be told twice. They all jumped off the cliff, eager to get away from the sniveling goblin army behind them. Kili grabbed Mei's hand, pulling her off the cliff with him.

Mei screamed, adrenaline pumping through her veins. This was like skydiving (something she had always been way to scared to do) or ziplining, but without any safety precautions. They were literally just jumping off of a cliff onto solid rock below. They were surely going to die, weren't they?

But as they neared the ground, and the prospect of dying had filled Mei's head, they suddenly stopped falling, as if stopped by an imaginary forcefield. Then, they slowly drifted to the ground.

"What?" Mei asked, getting up. "Why didn't we… you know… die?"  
Gandalf winked at her, waving his staff. "A wizard is always prepared, Miss Mei."

"Awesome…" Mei breathed. This was like Harry Potter, or something, but in real life!

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 **Reviews are always appreciated, thank you! 3 Follows/faves mean the world.**


	15. Chapter 15: Kill Her

**I know that I haven't updated in awhile (well, it's actually only been 3 days, but in the week that I was actively working on this story, I published new chapters if not twice, at least once per day), but it's only because I just started up school again. I'll try and get into a rhythm of posting on here, but it won't be as often as before-maybe every 4 or 5 days? I hope that's okay! :) Anyway, this is the longest chapter of the story thus far-it's a real intense one too, haha! Make sure to like, review and fave!**

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The company dashed through a series of tunnels that (according to Gandalf) led to the outside of the mountain.

As they ran, Mei found herself wondering whether or not Bilbo was alright-it had been at least forty-five minutes since she last saw him, and she doubted that a game of riddles with Gollum would take any longer than that. She would eagerly peer into any of the side tunnels that they passed, hoping to see Bilbo's familiar figure waiting for them.

But by the time they made their way out of the dark tunnels and onto a flat, grassy plain outside the mountain, Mei was getting very concerned. Where was Bilbo?

Gandalf paused for a moment, to perform a quick head count. When he noticed that Bilbo was missing, he eyed Mei with a significant glance, and then turned back to the company. "Where is our hobbit?" he asked, even though Mei knew that Gandalf already knew where Bilbo was. The council back at Rivendell, which had consisted of Gandalf, Elrond, Saruman and Galadriel, were the only ones Mei had told about Bilbo finding the One Ring in the goblin tunnels. Gandalf must have known that Mei had led Bilbo to find the ring, but, not wanting to inform the company of their burglar's own adventure, was pretending not to know where the hobbit was. _Complicated, but smart,_ Mei smirked, admiring the wizard's quick thinking.

"When I last saw him, he was talking with Mei," Oin said, looking at her. In fact, as soon as he had mentioned her name, the whole company was looking at her.

"Umm…" Mei stammered. Now it was her turn to act. "I'm not sure where he is," she finished lamely. "I think he might have slipped away when we were being herded towards the goblin king's main platform," she added, trying to flesh out her story.

"But what happened to him?" Balin asked, looking concerned.

"I'll tell you what happened!" Thorin bellowed. "Master Baggins saw his chance and took it! He's thought of nothing but his soft bed and warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door! We will not be seeing our hobbit again; he is long gone."

The company stood there silently for a moment. Mei had known and read about Thorin's doubt concerning Bilbo, but to witness it firsthand… her heart filled with sympathy for the poor hobbit-wherever he was.

"No he isn't," a familiar voice spoke from behind them.

Mei whirled around to find herself looking into the eyes of the company's burglar, Bilbo Baggins.

"Bilbo!" Fifteen of the company members (essentially, everyone except Thorin) gave joyful cries, and came to greet their burglar.

"How did you get past the goblins?" Fili asked in amazement.

"How indeed!" Dwalin laughed, slapping the hobbit on the back.

Only Mei and Gandalf noticed Bilbo slip a golden object into his pocket.

 _He found the One Ring_! Mei silently screamed.

"Well what does it matter?" Gandalf asked, seemingly wanting to spare the hobbit the hardship of coming up with a believable excuse. "He's back!"

Thorin stepped forward. "It matters," he said, looking closely at the hobbit. "I want to know. Why did you come back?"

Bilbo took a deep breath, and looked the dwarf in the eye. "Look, I know you doubt me. I know-I know you always have. And you're right, I often think of Bag-End. I miss my books. And my armchair, and my garden. See, that's where I belong. That's home. And that's why I came back. Because... you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can."

The dwarves processed this, looking at their burglar with looks of admiration and thanks. But Thorin simply scoffed and turned away.

 _Aww, c'mon Thorin_! Mei wanted to yell at him. _Have a heart and be nice to Bilbo already_!

But her thoughts-and those of the rest of the company-were interrupted when a vicious howling noise echoed from somewhere behind them.

"Wargs!" Mei cried, remembering the sixth chapter of _The Hobbit_ , titled: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire.

Without questioning how she had identified the sound so quickly, the company started running. But the thundering footfalls behind them seemed to be getting closer by the second.

"Climb the trees!" Mei yelled to them. "Get as high up as you can!"

She looked up at the tree closest to her, wondering how she would be able to climb its ladder-like branches without stressing her still-healing wounds.

But Kili quickly slung an arm around her waist (an action that sent jitters throughout her entire body) and pulled her up onto a branch with him. Together, they climbed up to the near top of the pine tree.

"Thanks," she said, turning to look at Kili.

"No problem," he replied with a cocky grin.

But his smile soon vanished when he saw the warg pack come into view. Mei looked closely at the group, quickly identifying Azog, the pale orc who had killed Thorin's grandfather.

She looked over at Thorin (who was in a tree branch in a tree just next to theirs), and saw that the dwarf was clenching his teeth and growling.

Mei remembered how Thorin had left the safety of the tree to face down Azog himself, and hoped that Thorin wouldn't be foolish enough to do that this time around.

"Do you smell it?" Azog sneered at Thorin, who was shaking with anger and the need for revenge. "The scent of fear? I remember your father reeked of it, Thorin, son of Thrain."

"It cannot be…" Thorin muttered. Even though Mei (and the goblin king, for that matter) had told him of Azog's return, she could tell that seeing his old enemy in the flesh had startled the poor dwarf. She wanted to comfort him, but was too frightened to draw any attention to herself. Next to her, she could feel Kili taking deep shuddering breaths. He may not have witnessed the battle firsthand, but he had heard of Azog's brutal killings at the battle outside Erebor from his uncle.

"That one is mine," Azog said, pointing his pointed mace at Thorin. "Kill the others," he ordered to his warg-riders. Without missing a beat, the wargs charged forward and immediately began gnawing on the tree trunks. Mei's heartbeat quickened.

The wargs weren't agile enough to climb the trees, nor were they strong enough to tip them over, but Mei knew that they would soon chew the trees down so that they fell over anyways. With a gulp, she absentmindedly tucked her legs (which had been hanging over the edge of the branch she sat on) under herself, so as to make herself as hard to reach as possible.

"Don't worry, Mei," Kili told her. "I'll protect you." He pulled out his bow, strung it, and then fired a shot down at the closest warg. It staggered backwards, dying almost instantly.

But Kili hardly had time to string another arrow before their tree began to sway. Mei heard a terrifying cracking noise, as their tree began to fall rapidly, another tree (the one Thorin, Balin and Dwalin were on) in it's path.

Mei screamed. Even if the sheer impact of slamming against the other tree with the full force of the falling pine they currently hung onto, they would be far too low to the ground, and the wargs would surely… eat them? Kill them? Bite them?

As the tree fell closer and closer to the ground, Mei heard Kili scream, "jump!"

Hardly thinking, she followed his orders and leapt to the nearest branch on the tree they would have smashed into. As their old tree came crashing towards her, she quickly dodged out of the way of it's path, falling against Kili for support. They now stood on a thick branch just below Thorin's branch, wobbling as if they were upon a balance beam.

But the tree the rest of the dwarves were on was falling rapidly towards their tree now as well. The dwarves managed to leap onto the tree without any trouble, but the impact of the two trees colliding shook the pine so that all of the branches wobbled, the dwarves (and two humans-Gandalf and Mei-and a hobbit) wobbling with them. Kili nearly fell off, but Mei managed to catch his wrist, steadying him so that he wouldn't plummet down into the sea of growling, wild wargs beneath them.

"Drink their blood!" Azog yelled to his fighters.

 _What a nice guy_ , Mei muttered to herself.

Kili has fired off a few more arrows, killing two or three more wargs and their riders. But the shakiness of the tree caused many of his shots to go astray, missing their targets entirely.

The wargs had soon chewed down the trunk of the tree that all of the company now clung to, and it swayed precariously over the edge of the cliff they were upon. Mei gulped, daring a glance over the edge. There was only blackness, nothing more.

 _Great_ , Mei thought, trying to think of a plan to get them out of this. _If we get off the tree, we'll be eaten by wargs. If we stay on the tree, we'll plummet to our deaths_.

Then she remembered. The flaming pinecones! Gandalf had used his magical staff to set several pinecones aflame in _The Hobbit_. The dwarves had thrown the pinecones down at the wargs, killing many of them.

"Gandalf!" she yelled up at the wizard, who was in one of the tree's highest branches. "Use your staff to set some pinecones on fire!"

"What?" Gandalf cried.

"Light some pinecones on fire!" she cried again. "We can throw them at the wargs!"

"Why didn't I think of that?" Mei heard Gandalf mutter, as he conjured a flame to light a pinecone. He threw it down to Kili, who grabbed another pinecone. Using the flaming pinecone, Kili managed to light the other one on fire as well. With a grunt, he hurled one of the pinecones down at the wargs, causing the beast to cry out in pain. Above them, Gandalf was hurling more fiery pinecones at the dwarves so they could manipulate their new weapon.

Flaming pinecones flew threw the air. Kili gave Mei some to throw herself, but, seeing her her physical abilities were scarce, if not entirely nonexistent, she only managed to injure one of the wargs. But she was pretty proud of herself, nonetheless.

The fire (which had inflamed the ground beneath them as well) seemed to scare the wargs into backing away. The dwarves cheered, yelling insults and taunts at their newly frightened enemies.

But their excitement was short lived.

The tree they were all huddled on was breaking at it's base even more now, and it fell midway to the ground, the top third of the tree falling over the edge. She heard Ori and Dori scream as they fell off their branch. Looking over, she saw that Dori had just managed to grab ahold of Gandalf's staff, with Ori clutching onto Dori's boot. But if either of them let go, they'd fall to their death. She hoped that Gandalf had called the eagles already, because they were going to all die here if something didn't happen quickly.

Azog smirked at the terrified dwarves clinging to the lone tree. Mei saw Thorin glare at his old enemy with a gaze that would have bore right through iron. But Azog wasn't made of iron-he was made of cruelty and the desire to torture.

When Thorin stood up, Mei gasped. He wasn't… he wouldn't…

"Thorin, no!" she warned. "Don't do it! You'll only get hurt!"

But Thorin, stupid, arrogant Thorin, was charging towards the pale orc, his oaken shield and sword in hand.

 _No_ … Mei watched Thorin, running to his certain doom. She remembered how Bilbo had come to Thorin's rescue when she had first seen this scene in the movies. But Bilbo was too high up on the tree now to be of any help.

 _Like Mei said, the events about to happen are not exactly like the ones she has described. We can try as best we can to engineer these events to save as many people as possible, but you can only fight fate so much. Trying to control and engineer our way to safety may work in some cases, but in the grand scheme of things, I doubt it will work._

Gandalf had spoken those words to the council back at Rivendell, and they echoed through Mei's panicked mind now. In the events she remembered, Bilbo had saved Thorin. But Bilbo couldn't save Thorin now. Which meant that someone else had to do it.

There was only one way to save Thorin.

With a gulp, Mei stood, struggling to keep her balance on the shaky branch. When Kili saw her stand, he cried, "Mei, no!" and tried to pull her back down. But she wriggled out of his grasp and ran down the partially downed tree trunk.

The heat of the flames around her burned her face. Her stomach wound protested as her feet slammed onto the ground with each staggering step. Nonetheless, she knew she had to get to Thorin, before Azog could hurt him. She picked up a fallen branch with a somewhat sharp point and continued her charge towards Azog and Thorin.

Thorin had just reached Azog, and when he did, the pale orc's white warg jumped down on the dwarf, knocking him off his feet.

 _No_! Mei silently screamed, quickening her pace.

She heard Thorin cry out in pain. When the warg released him from it's jaws, the dwarf tried to get up for a counterattack, but the warg was too swift. It grabbed Thorin around the stomach with its razor sharp teeth.

Back at the tree, she heard the dwarves cry out in horror as their friend, their leader, their king, was gnawed on by the awful beast.

Mei finally reached the battle scene, brandishing the stick she had picked up. She ran towards the warg (who still had it's teeth buried in Thorin's side), stabbing the beast with the stick like a javelin. It howled, dropping the dwarf in it's mouth in surprise.

Azog, who hadn't seen Mei approaching, turned to his new foe. With a smirk, he took in the bloodied bandages around her waist, shoulder and hip, as well as the now broken stick she held. She was weak.

"Kill her!" he bellowed to the nearest warg-rider.


	16. Chapter 16: Romance & Interruptions

Mei's heart pounded inside her shuddering ribcage as four growling wargs closed in on her. She waved her blunted branch around in the air a few times, whether to try and scare them off or to test her own skill with the useless weapon, she wasn't sure.

She could practically smell the wargs' stinking breath now, rancid and pungent clouds of it heating her face. They drew closer, closer.

Mei shot a final glance over at Thorin, who seemed not to be moving-hopefully he was just unconscious.

 _You couldn't even save Thorin, Mei_ , she scolded herself inwardly. _And now you're going to go and get yourself killed_.

But just as one of the wargs sprang towards her, ready to tear into her flesh, an arrow pierced it's side, causing it to give a cry of pain. It fell at Mei's feet, twitching and moaning.

She looked towards the direction of the arrow, and saw that Kili stood not far away, another arrow already strung in his bow. He fired it off quickly, hitting a second warg.

Behind Kili, more dwarves were emerging. Some of them, Mei figured, were perched upon higher, more dangerous branches on the tree and couldn't risk trying to come back down, but Balin, Dwalin and Fili had made it down to help nonetheless.

 _These dwarves are seriously like the best guys ever_ , Mei decided, smiling a little. Kili had fired off one more arrow, and Dwalin had thrown his axe in a perfect spiral through the air, both of which had finished off the last two wargs.

But the pale orc seemed undeterred. With a malicious grin, he glanced at Kili and Fili.

"You must be the Durin princes," he said, advancing on the two of them.

Kili shot an arrow at the pale orc, but he easily deflected it with his weapon.

"Now you must die," Azog sneered, looming closer to the group of dwarves.

Mei looked around desperately for something, anything that she could use to stop Azog from killing the dwarves. There had to be something-another branch, maybe-that she could use. There had to be!

Just as Azog's warg made a vicious attempt to spear Kili with one of its razor sharp teeth (which Kili dodged quite easily), a cry from overhead paused the entire battle. Mei looked up to see massive birds-no, eagles!-swooping overhead. Gandalf _had_ called his feathered friends to help them after all!

Azog growled, trying to make another attempt to behead the dark-haired Durin prince in front of him. But before he could, an eagle swept him up and threw him away. She could hear Azog's screams as he landed somewhere in the forest. Mei doubted that the fall had killed the orc, but at least he couldn't try and kill Kili again anytime soon.

She ran towards the dwarves, embracing all of them in a huge bear hug. "Thank you guys," she said, squeezing them.

"Our pleasure," Balin said, his voice somewhat strained from the tightness of her hug.

"All right, all right," Dwalin said, brushing himself off when she had finished. "Don't start getting all sappy on us, lass." But he too was smiling.

"You know," Kili said, grinning. "This is the third-maybe fourth?-time I've saved your life in the past two days. Not that I've been counting," he added with a wink.

"Oh shut up," Mei laughed, punching him playfully in the arm.

Their conversation was ended abruptly as an eagle swept down and picked up Mei and Kili in it's talons. Mei couldn't help but scream, but it was more from exhilaration and a roller coaster ride sense excitement than fear or pain.

The eagle dropped them from it's claws, causing them to land on the back of another eagle.

"Whoa…" Mei breathed, looking over the eagle's feathers to watch as countless other eagles snatched up their friends and plopped them onto safe, feathery backs. The view from the eagle's back was amazing-all mountains and cloudy horizons.

She settled back, trying to get comfortable within the eagle's fluffy feathers. But before she could find a good position, the eagle dove downwards, causing both she and Kili to slide down the eagle's back and towards its head.

In his panic, Kili had grabbed onto her waist, his body lolling against hers. Mei could feel her skin tingling from his touch, and tried to relax her body so that she wouldn't be super tense and awkward.

Even though the eagle's flight had leveled out, and they were now flying in an undisturbed flight pattern, Kili didn't move to get out of the position they were in-his hands around her waist and her head on his shoulder.

The eagles finally landed on a rocky cliff not far from a dark green patch of forest (Mei guessed that it was Mirkwood). They let their passengers climb off their backs, and then flew off.

One of the eagles had been carrying Thorin in it's talons, and this eagle now laid the dwarf down gingerly, careful not to scratch him or cause any additional harm to him. Even from where she stood, Mei could tell that Thorin was severely wounded. His entire body was covered in blood, and there were countless scratches and cuts all over his skin.

 _Please let him be alright_ , Mei whispered.

Next to her, she could feel Kili tense, probably at the sight of seeing his uncle so badly injured.

"He's not dead," Gandalf said, after examining Thorin's wounds for a moment. "Thanks to Miss Mei," he added, glancing at her. "If Azog had delivered another blow, Thorin would likely be dead."

 _Not dead_? Mei's mind swirled with emotions, both proud and relieved. She had saved him. He would be alright.

Gandalf performed some magic on Thorin, slowly waving one hand over the dwarf's face and muttering some words. After a moment of tense silence, Thorin gave a sputtering breath and opened his eyes. The company exhaled, relieved. Their king was alive.

Thorin wasted no time before standing up. His steps were shaky and uneven, but he seemed to be walking without much pain. "Where is the girl?" he rasped, his voice weak.

"She's alright," Gandalf said, gesturing at Mei.

Thorin turned to look at her, his piercing stare revealing none of his emotions.

"Hey," she tried awkwardly. Grimacing inwardly at her own social incompetence, she added, "how are you feeling?"

Thorin ignored her question, and advanced on her. His bloodied clothes, muddied face and tousled hair made him look like a madman. "Do you know why I chose to leave you behind?" he asked her, his voice coming out as an uneven snarl.

"Uh…" Mei stammered. "Not really, I guess?"

"I said that you would be a burden," he growled, getting closer. "I said that you did not hold a place amongst us."

Mei could sense Kili next to her, about to come to her defense.

But Thorin's seemingly angry persona abruptly ended, and he raced forward to embrace Mei. He smelled of warg and blood and dirt, but she returned the hug nonetheless.

"Never have I been so wrong," he cried. He stepped back to look her in the eye. "I owe you, Mei. Without you, I would be dead."

Not exactly sure how to respond, Mei just gave a weak smile.

"But I must ask you," Thorin said. "Why did you come to my aid? I had abandoned you-what loyalty did you owe me?"

"Well," Mei began, her voice shaking under the scrutiny of Thorin and the other dwarves. "As you all know, I've already read all about you guys. And I know that Thorin ends up being a really nice person," she glanced at Thorin, who was smiling. "He is a brave and kind dwarf, who always wants the best for his people. And I guess I just wanted to save him, because I knew that he needed that chance to show who he really was."

Thorin put a hand on her shoulder, his eyes clouding slightly with what Mei guessed were tears. "Can you forgive me?" he asked. "For leaving you behind?"

"Sure," Mei answered cheerfully, causing the dwarves to laugh in approval.

* * *

The dwarves had been camping out on the cliff ever since the eagles had dropped them there. Thorin's wounds needed healing, and the rest of them were tired and weary. It had been two days since the escape from the goblin tunnels, but it still seemed like only yesterday to Mei.

"Move your feet," Kili instructed her. Over the past few days, he had been teaching her how to use a sword. But with her clumsy hands and nearly nonexistent hand-eye coordination, it hadn't gone so well.

"I am," she grumbled, glancing down at her feet. She was still wearing her Converse sneakers, but their white color was almost entirely masked now by dirt and grime.

"Here, try to disarm me," Kili said, pulling out his own sword.

"I don't want to hurt you!" Mei protested.

"Trust me," Kili said with a wink. "You won't. Just give me your best shot."

With a sigh, Mei gave her sword a feeble wave. Then she advanced on Kili, trying to figure out which way she should swing the sword. If he was right-handed, did that mean you were supposed to attack from the left? Or was it the right? She had no idea.

Deciding on the left, she gave the sword a swing. But her attack was quickly blocked by Kili, the force of his sword knocking her's out of her hand.

"I'm no good at this," she moaned, plopping down next to the fire Oin and Gloin had got going a few hours ago. She could see some of the other dwarves off in the distance, but it was mainly just her and Kili near their campsite.

"You'll get better," he said reassuringly, sitting down next to her.

"That's unlikely," she muttered, slumping against the rock wall of the cavern they had set up camp in.

They sat in silence for a moment, when Kili asked, "how old are you?"

"What?" Mei replied.

"How old are you?" he repeated. "I've been wondering ever since we first met."

"Umm," Mei started awkwardly. "I'm seventeen."

"What?" Kili cried. "Seventeen?"

"Oh, right!" Mei exclaimed. "You dwarves have like _really_ long lives. Aren't you like seventy-seven, or something?"

"How did you know?" Kili asked, astounded. Then he remembered how she had read _The Hobbit_ and basically knew everything about him already.

"You know," Mei said, stirring the fire with a stick. "It's kind of weird that I've spent my entire life reading all about you dwarves, and now that I'm actually here, in Middle-Earth…" she trailed off. "You guys are way different from how I imagined you'd be."

"Is that a good thing?" Kili asked, grinning.

"Well," Mei said with a fake air of annoyance. " _Some_ of the dwarves are way more annoying than I thought they'd be. One dwarf in particular-his name starts with a "K," I believe."

Kili laughed. "When you were reading-what was the book called again?"

" _The Hobbit_?" Mei suggested.

"Right. When you were reading _The Hobbit_ , what did you think of me?" he asked, smiling broadly.

"You were actually one of my favorite characters," Mei admitted. "You and Thorin."

"Really?" Kili laughed. "Why?"

"I don't really know…" Mei trailed off, thinking. "I guess because you sort of lightened the mood of the story. All of the other dwarves were so serious, but you and Fili made jokes and seemed to be having a lot more fun than everyone else."

"I think my uncle might be getting a little fed up with me," Kili said, looking up at her. "He thinks I'm reckless."

Mei laughed. "He got _that_ right."

"You think?" Kili smirked, inching closer to her.

Mei's heart gave a little flutter. She could feel the heat radiating off of Kili's body next to her, his closeness doing nothing to slow her heartbeat.

"Well," Kili said smiling, his voice barely more than a whisper. "Maybe just a little." He leaned closer to her, so close that he was only a few inches away.

 _Oh my god_ , Mei's thoughts pounded in her head. _Is he going to kiss me_? She leaned towards him a bit too, trying hard not to look too nervous. She had never kissed anyone before, and she hoped she wouldn't come across as jumpy or awkward this time.

The two of them inched towards each other, both of them too afraid to be the one to make the final move. Finally, when their lips were mere centimeters apart…

Someone cleared their throat behind them. Mei broke apart from Kili, whirling to look at who had made the sound. A few meters away stood Thorin, looking at the two of them with a mixture of amusement and disapproval.

Next to her, Kili opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing.

"Kili?" Thorin said softly. "Can I speak with you?"

"Uncle-" Kili began.

"Kili." Thorin said again, this time more firmly. He walked away, as if beckoning his nephew to follow.

Kili stood and followed his uncle, but not before casting a worried and apologetic glance her way.

After he was gone, Mei couldn't help but try and listen in on their conversation. She tiptoed after Kili, and tried to follow his path. She saw them standing in a grove of rocks, and she hid behind one of them so that she could listen in on what they were saying.


	17. Chapter 17: Thorin's Rules

"Kili," Thorin's voice sounded from behind the rock. Mei slumped further down the boulder, trying to remain as hidden as possible.

"Uncle, I-" Kili started. Mei could hear the anguish in his voice.

"Kili," Thorin said again. "Have I not told you that it is distracting to form relationships when you are on a quest? During a quest, you must focus and be aware of yourself and your actions at all times. If you care too much about someone else, it distracts you from taking care of yourself."  
"That's a load of nonsense!" Kili cried. "Are you saying that we shouldn't love or befriend anyone because it's _distracting_? Honestly, uncle! Not everyone is like you, alright? Not everyone can just block out the world and ignore their conscience."

"That's not what I'm saying," Thorin's voice was pleading. "I'm trying to say, that while occupied with a _quest_ , you should try and focus on the end goal, and not on building up new romances with other members of the company. It's distracting and causes unnecessary drama."

Mei couldn't help but agree with Thorin just a little bit. She wasn't the best fighter, nor was she very athletic. Whenever they got into battles, Kili would always have to worry about saving her along with himself. It was too much responsibility for one dwarf. As much as she liked-loved?-Kili, she didn't want to endanger him like that.

"You can't stop me and Mei from being friends," Kili said defiantly, breaking her train of thought.

"I think you two are much more than friends," Thorin said, his voice coaxing but also somehow sharp.

There was silence for a moment, and Mei could hear only Kili's heavy breathing in that stretch of nothingness.

Finally, Thorin spoke again. "Kili," he said. "Even if we do reclaim Erebor, there is no knowing whether Mei will stay. According to her, she arrived in Middle Earth at the very beginning of our quest. Who's to say she won't disappear and return to her homeland when the quest is finished?"

"Mei's not going anywhere," Kili shot back. "She's going to stay in Middle Earth. She's not leaving. She won't disappear."

Mei had been pondering Thorin's exact words for the past few nights. She had wondered what would happen when, and if, the dwarves took back their mountain. Would she be whisked off back to Earth, back to first period algebra and that chemistry quiz she had had later in the afternoon on the day she had been running on that bike path to school?

"For your own safety, Kili, I must put this consequence in place: if I am to witness any more developments in this romantic relationship between you and Mei, I will have no choice but to force her to leave the company-understood? She will only distract you, and I cannot endanger your life."

She heard Kili sputter in protest.

"I will say no more," Thorin's footfalls echoed away from the grove and slowly faded away.

The dwarves had decided to leave the safety of the cliffs, and venture downwards towards the forests not two days past. Mei knew that they would soon encounter the great skin-changer Beorn, someone that she was very eager to meet.

Besides this new change of pace, things between her and Kili had grown more and more awkward. They hadn't spoken to each other, but what little eye contact they had made was nothing more than a nervous glance.

The other members of the company (especially Thorin) had noticed the tense air between the two friends. Balin had asked Mei several times if she was alright, or for her to explain why she and Kili weren't talking, but Mei had simply said, "I'm fine," or "We just ran out of things to talk about." All lies of course. All lies.

Thorin had been watching the growing distance between the two of them with mixed expressions each day. Sometimes he looked sad, other times he looked satisfied. But his contact with either of them had also been cut off since that night-aside from regular orders, Mei nor Kili hadn't spoken to Thorin in days.

Mei was desperately wishing that this quest would hurry up and end, or that she could just wake up back at that bike trail (even though she would probably get a week's worth of detention for being late for school). She was sure she couldn't take this awkward, tense environment for much longer.

One night, when they were camping out at the very edge of the forest (they planned to reach Beorn's house the next day), Fili approached Mei.

"Mei?" he asked, sitting down next to her by the fire. She had been absentmindedly sharpening the sword Kili had given her using a few stray rocks.

"Yeah?" Her voice was hoarse from days of hardly speaking at all.

"I know something's up between you and Kili," Fili told her. "I've never seen him this sad before. And from the looks of you, I'd say that you're pretty sad too."

"Nothing's wrong," Mei lied quickly.

"Mei…" Fili trailed off expectantly, obviously not believing her.

"Fine…" she sighed, blowing a piece of hair out of her face. "The other night-wait, promise you won't tell anyone?"

"Alright," Fili promised.

"Well," Mei continued. "The other night, Kili and I…" she paused, her cheeks flushing red. "We were about to kiss."

Fili's eyebrows shot up, a smirk emerging on his face.

Glaring at him (and kicking him in the shin), Mei added, "but Thorin saw us. And so he led Kili away to talk to him."

"What did he talk to Kili about?" Fili asked.

"You dwarves are so impatient," Mei grumbled, but she was smiling. It was good to talk to someone again, even if she was talking about the very incident that had silenced her in the first place.

"He told Kili that having a relationship with me would only distract him from the quest, and that Kili needed to be focused." Mei had replayed the conversation between Kili and his uncle dozens of times in her head over the past few days, and she had it almost entirely memorized. "And he said that if he saw us kiss, or even hug, I guess, again, he'd kick me out of the company."

Fili's eyes widened. "Whoa."

"Yeah," Mei stuck her sword into the ground with a ferocious stab. Although she agreed partially with Thorin, she was also angry at him for being so controlling-and so heartless. Being a good and selfless leader was one thing, but this, this was something different.

"You know," Fili began, searching her face. "Kili _really_ likes you. I mean, there are loads of dwarrowdams back home, and of course, being Kili, he's flirted with all of them at some point or another," he gave Mei a pointed glance, to which she laughed. "But he's never looked at someone else the way he looks at you Mei-he definitely likes you."

Mei's already flushed cheeks darkened. "I'm don't think he does, Fili."

"What?" Fili looked at her curiously. "Why?"

"I mean, look at him," she said. "He's a prince-an adorable, strong, funny one, at that. And me…" she trailed off for a moment. "I'm just a nobody. I'm not even supposed to be here, and even back on Earth I was still just as uninteresting." Looking at Fili, she continued, "Kili could have any girl he wanted-a rich dwarven princess, or something. I'm just an awkward, weak girl who doesn't belong here."

"Kili doesn't _want_ a rich dwarven princess, Mei!" Fili sounded exasperated. "That's what I've been trying to tell you!" He raised his eyebrows again. "Have you ever met a dwarven princess?"

"No," Mei sniffled.

"Well, they're the most stuck-up breed of monsters you'll ever see," Fili said, gagging. "And every time uncle has tried to marry one of us off to them, we've refused. They're just _awful_."

"Why is Thorin so…" Mei paused, not wanting to offend Fili.

"Controlling?" Fili offered.

"Yeah," Mei said.

"He's just always under a ton of pressure-he wants to do the right thing for us, but he also has to do the right thing for our people." Fili gazed off into the distance. "It's frightening to think that one day I'll be in his position."

"I'm sure you'll be a great king," Mei assured him, giving him a comforting nod.

They sat in a brief silence, listening only to the crackling of the fire.

"But I didn't come here for reassurances," Fili said at last. "I came here because my brother is in emotional ruins, and you're the only one that can help him."

"Thorin said-" Mei began.

"He never said that you couldn't be _friends_ , right?" Fili interjected with a wink.

Mei sighed, bunching her lips to one side. "Why hasn't Kili talked to me earlier?" she asked.

"Because, behind all of that tough exterior, Kili is the softest, most shy dwarfling you'll ever meet-don't tell him I said that though." Fili said, grinning. "He's afraid to make a move because he's not sure that you still like him anymore-even as friends."

"That's absurd!" Mei cried. "Of course I still like him."

"Well, go and tell him that!" Fili smirked, standing up. "I think my work here is done." With one last wink, he strode off, a new bounce in his step.

Mei found Kili sitting at the base of an oak tree, gathering sticks and fashioning them into pointed arrows. When he saw her approach, his eyes brightened.

"Hey," she said, taking a seat next to him. She wasn't sure if it was too good of an idea to sit too close to him, so she left a few feet of space in between them.

Kili was silent, the sparkle in his eyes gone. He turned back to his arrows, chipping off a bit more on the end of one of his sticks.

"Er…" Mei hadn't ever been a very talkative person, and now that it seemed like she would be doing most of the talking in this conversation, she wasn't quite sure what to say. "I'm really sorry for not coming to talk to you sooner," Mei said, searching Kili's face for any sign of its signature smirk or mischievously glinting eyes.

"It's alright," Kili said simply, not looking at her.

"Well," Mei said, feeling as if she were talking to a wall of stone. "I hate not talking to you-you're like my best friend. And if we can't be…" she trailed off, flushing slightly. Every time she tried to identify their brief romantic relationship, she came up short. "We can still be friends, even with Thorin's rule."

Kili looked up at her. "Really?" he asked, sounding stunned. "I didn't think you'd want to be friends, after… after what happened."

"Aww, c'mon Kili!" Mei grinned, punching him in the arm. "You're so much fun-the last few days without you have been so ridiculously boring."

"Really?" Kili said again, smiling a little.

They sat in a happy silence for a moment.

Then, Kili's face darkened. "But Mei," he began. "How are we going to deal with… with Thorin? And… _us_?"

Another silence, this one not as pleasant.

"Well, Thorin just said that we couldn't be together during this quest," Mei pointed out. "After we reclaim Erebor, he won't care anymore. Probably. I think."

"Mei…" Kili sighed. "I've been thinking a lot about what you said-about how at the end of the hobbit I… I die. I don't want to give you any false hope-"

"Don't you dare talk like that, Kili," Mei scolded. "You're not going to die-I'm not going to let you. Fili's not going to let you. Thorin isn't either. We're all going to protect you, Kili. Everyone is going to be fine. I'm sure of it."

"But are you?" Kili asked, his eyes shining with tears. "Mei, I know you mean well, but you never know what might happen."

"Kili…" Mei warned, trying to hold back her own tears. Just the mere thought of not having Kili in her life brought her to tears.

And then, just like that, they both began crying, from fear, from friendship, from loss and from grief. And they held each other, shirts soaked and faces wet.

Mei wasn't sure how long they stayed there, holding each other as they cried. But she wasn't keeping track. Horrible thoughts-nightmares-of Kili being stabbed by Bolg, Azog's warrior puppet, of Kili being slain by Azog himself, of Kili lying, dead and bloodied on the battlefield. She tried to banish these horrible imaginings, but the harder she tried to forget them, the more that came. There was no escaping the truth-Kili was extremely likely to die at the Battle of the Five Armies. She could try to save him, but it would be difficult. And even if she did, she likely wouldn't be able to save Thorin and Fili too. There would have to be sacrifice, as much as she tried to convince herself otherwise.

When at last they pulled away from each other, Kili said, "but even if I am to die, Mei, I want my last days, however many there may be, to be spent with you."

"So, friends, then?" Mei sniffled, smiling a little.

"Friends," Kili agreed, returning the grin.

* * *

 **Reviews, faves and follows are all so greatly appreciated! Thank you to everyone who has shown so much support for this story! 3**


	18. Chapter 18: The Warg Attack

Although Kili and Mei had both agreed to be friends, their relationship remained slightly awkward. Every time they touched-whether it be Kili's helping her up if she tripped, or either of them accidentally bumping into each other, Thorin would shoot them warning glares.

"Where is the home of this Beorn?" Thorin asked one day, as they were wandering aimlessly through grassy meadows. Mei could see Mirkwood not far ahead, but the company's supplies were dwindling-they needed to reach Beorn's home before they could advance any further.

Gandalf said nothing, for he too was perplexed. They had been walking for three days straight, searching in vain for Beorn's home.

"It used to be around here somewhere…" the wizard mumbled, turning in place.

The company peered into the distance, searching for any signs of smoke from a chimney and listening for sounds of animals (for Beorn had entire stables full of horses, cows, pigs and chickens).

But a piercing cry chilled the air before any of them could process their newfound observations. The cry was a frightening one-one that had to belong to an orc.

"We're being hunted!" Thorin yelled to the company, glancing at the direction of the cry. "Run!"

The company dashed through the tall grasses, not quite sure where to go. Gandalf seemed to be leading them towards Mirkwood, but the forest was still quite far ahead.

"We're not going to make it!" Mei cried to Kili, daring a glance over her shoulder. Dozens of wargs (where did they keep coming from?) were hot on their trail.

"Sure we will!" Kili yelled back, but he didn't seem so convinced.

The frantic moment was doused with an ounce of humor when Bombur came rushing past all of them, his short little legs carrying him through the grass faster than any of them. Mei couldn't help but smile a little.

But when Bofur (who had fallen behind) was snatched up by a warg, the entire company stopped. Horrified, Mei watched at Bofur was thrown from side to side, his leg ensnared within the warg's teeth.

"Bofur!" Both Bifur and Bombur bellowed, their voices full of anguish at seeing their cousin (for Bifur) and brother (for Bombur) in so much danger.

Mei turned to Thorin, whose eyes were wide. She could practically hear the gears turning in his brain, trying to formulate a plan.

Just then, a huge black form came barreling out of nowhere, tackling the warg to the ground. Bofur fell into the grass and, to the company's relief, began crawling towards them. He was still alive.

Mei squinted at the black beast, and found that it was actually Beorn-in his bear form! Beorn was a skin-changer, which meant that he could change forms whenever he chose to. Sometimes, he was a great strong man, while on other occasions, he was a huge black bear. Beorn (the bear) was currently fending off the attacks of several other wargs. Mei could see Azog not far behind them, his white warg unmistakable amongst the others.

"We should run!" she yelled to Thorin, who nodded in agreement. The company continued to flee from the orcs.

"There!" Gandalf cried, pointing his staff towards a small cottage not far off. "I can see a house!"

"Is it the home of Beorn?" Thorin cried.

"I do not know," Gandalf admitted, although it came out as more of a wheeze due to the excessive running they had been doing. "But we will have to take our chances."

* * *

"Inside, quick!" Gandalf paused just outside the doors to Beorn's home, ushering the out-of-breath dwarves inside.

Mei didn't need to be told twice-she ran towards the open doors as fast as she could. Although she didn't dare look behind her to check, she was pretty sure that the warg riders were only a moment's ride behind them.

But when she heard a sharp cry of pain next to her, she stopped short. Turning, she saw a growling brown warg standing over Kili's body. Her heart plummeted as she saw several bright red scratches on Kili's shoulder-the warg had bitten him.

"Kili!" she cried, running towards him. None of the other dwarves had noticed Kili's injury-a fact that Mei wished wasn't true. Now that it was just her, Kili and this awful warg, it was up to her to kill it.

 _Great_ … Mei mumbled to herself, trying to remember where she had put her sword as the warg advanced on her, growling. _Was it on my left? Or my right?_

But when the warg sprang at her, she instinctively reached for the right side of her rucksack and found the familiar feel of the ebony handle of her sword. She whipped the sword out of it's sheath and stabbed the warg right between it's eyes.

"Holy moly," Mei breathed, loosening her grip on her sword in shock. The warg howled in pain, then fell onto the ground, her small dagger still embedded in it's forehead.

She could have stood there for perhaps another eternity, processing the adrenaline-filled moment, but the howls of nearby wargs caused her to snap her foucs back to the present. Gandalf was still ushering the dwarves into the house, but some of them (Fili, Dwalin and Thorin) had heard the warg's dying cry. They rushed over to Kili, and helped Mei carry him into the house. He was heavy, but with the other dwarves' help, they easily carried him inside-with mere moments to spare as snarling wargs bombarded into the freshly closed and bolted doors behind them.

The four of them laid Kili down onto a table, and Oin immediately began examining Kili's wounds. Mei watched anxiously, peering over Oin's shoulder.

 _Please let him be okay_ , Mei wished, not for the first time since the start of their adventure.

"He'll be alright," Oin said at last, much to the relief of the tense dwarves (as well as Bilbo, Gandalf and Mei). "The cuts weren't too deep."

"All thanks to Miss Mei!" Fili cried, looking towards her. "I saw her kill the beast! She's a great warrior!"

"Warrior?" Mei laughed. "Seriously, guys. I just got lucky, that's all."

"No," Thorin said, causing everyone to turn their heads towards him. "You didn't get lucky." He strode towards her, his stern face doing nothing to reveal his emotion.

"Umm…" Mei stammered as Thorin reached her, leaving only about a foot of space between them.

"You saved my nephew's life-and you acted quickly and smartly on instinct. You are truly a great warrior Mei, and I am honored to have you on my company. I know that I have expressed feelings of doubt and disloyalty towards you, but I am forever in your debt. You have saved my nephew's-and my own-life."

"Aww, thanks Thorin!" Mei cooed, grinning playfully at him. "Are we, like, best friends now?"

Thorin's gaze softened humorously. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Mei."

"I'll take it!" Mei laughed. But then a thought struck her. "Oh no!" she cried. "I never took my sword out of that warg's head! It's still outside!"

"Don't worry, Mei," Thorin assured her. "I'll find you a new one."

"Really?" Mei asked, excited. She hoped she'd never have to use a sword ever again in her life, but she also wouldn't mind handling a cool Elvish blade or ancient Dwarven axe or something.

Their conversation was interrupted by a low groan. Mei looked over to find Kili sitting up, moaning slightly in pain.

"Kili!" Nearly all of the company shouted at the same time.

* * *

~ From Kili's POV ~

Kili looked around at the apprehensive dwarves surrounding him, each of them wearing an expression of both concern and relief.

Among the familiar faces, he picked out Mei. Dirt and-was that blood?-streaked her face, and her hair was terribly matted. But somehow, she looked even more beautiful than she had back in Rivendell.

"Are you alright?" Oin asked, breaking Kili's train of thought.

Kili nodded, but the action caused him to wince in pain. There was a sore bump on his head, and his shoulder ached terribly. He wasn't quite sure why he was in pain-he just remembered a great, furry impact and a set of huge teeth. "What happened?" he asked, rubbing his head.

"You were attacked by a warg," Thorin said. Even though his uncle's face was set in it's usual blank expression, Kili could detect a smidge of concern in his uncle's eyes.

"Really?" Kili asked, bewildered.

"Yeah," Mei said. "And I killed it-so now I don't owe you for saving my life anymore," she added with a smirk.

"Are you alright?" Kili asked her. Judging from the blood on her face, the warg must have scratched her at least a little bit as well.

"Brilliant," Mei grinned. "Are you sure _you're_ okay? That warg was really huge."

"I'm fine," he lied, trying to ignore the searing pains in his shoulder. He didn't want to look weak in front of his uncle-there was just something about Thorin's constant disapproval that led Kili to feel like he was always coming up short of his uncle's expectations.

"So where is Beorn?" Balin asked, looking towards the closed doors.

"He'll be around," Mei said, and Kili had to remind himself that she had already read all about their encounter with Beorn in _The Hobbit_. "We should probably get some rest now-he won't be here until nighttime."

With one last look at Kili, Thorin nodded and ordered the dwarves to start looking for food within Beorn's vast halls. Beorn must really have been a large man, because the ceilings in his otherwise modest cottage were huge and vaulted.

"Come on," Mei said next to him, startling him.

"What?" he asked stupidly. "Where are we going?"

"I'm helping you down from this table, silly," Mei held out a hand.

"But-" Kili sputtered, he glanced towards his uncle, who didn't seem to be paying them much attention. "Thorin's rule…"

"Seriously, Kili," Mei laughed. "I'm just helping a poor wounded dwarf down from a table, it's not like we're making out or anything."

Kili flushed, but took her hand anyways. With her help, he landed softly on the ground in front of the table, with only a few winces. "And by the way," he said, once he was safely on the ground. "I am _not_ a 'poor wounded dwarf'!"

"Sure…" Mei giggled, dragging out the last syllables of the word. Then she spotted a basket of bread sitting on a nearby counter. She grabbed two loaves and handed one of them to him.

"Thanks," he said, taking a huge bite out of the loaf. He hadn't eaten any "real" food since the last of the Elven food they had pecked from Rivendell had diminished, and the familiar taste of bread was comforting in his dry mouth.

Mei gawked at the gigantic bite he had taken out of the bread. "How can you eat that much?" she exclaimed.

"I'm a dwarf, Mei. Eating is what we do," he grinned through a mouthful of bread. Although, it came out more like "emadwerf mah. Eefing if wharwe dah."

Trying to mimic his actions, Mei took a staggeringly huge bite of the bread, gagged slightly, then promptly spit it out into a nearby bucket. "Way… too… much…" she gasped.

"Just proves that you can't handle it," Kili jested.

"Oh, shut it Kili," Mei glared, kicking him in the shin.

He winced, her foot coming into contact with one of the fresh bruises the encounter with the warg had given him.

"I'm so sorry!" Mei exclaimed, clapping her hands over her mouth. "Did I hurt you?

"I'm alright," Kili laughed. "You've got a strong kick."

"Well, you deserved it!" Mei said primly, holding her chin up in the air with a fake air of superiority.

The two of them laughed, a sound that Kili had grown used to whenever he spent time with Mei.

* * *

 **Follows, faves & reviews are always greatly appreciated! :D **


	19. Chapter 19: A Hobbit's Tale

**I'm so sorry for the long absence! School and exams have really taken over my life recently. But I promise to be more active in the coming weeks! :) Also, this chapter has some fluff in it, but more action (maybe involving elves? hehe...) is coming in the next chapter.**

* * *

 _Creeeeeaaaakkkkkk_ …

Mei's eyes snapped open, her heart pounding. The doors to the house, which had been firmly locked by Gandalf, were now inching open. Even though she was pretty sure the intruder was Beorn himself, she couldn't help but shudder a little.

She turned slightly inside her sleeping bag so that she would have a better view of the doorway.

A shadow slipped in through the door frame-a huge, lumbering one. Mei gulped, watching intently as a gigantic man stepped through. Although it was still dark, Mei could make out some of his general features: he had long, bushy hair, a pair of glittering black eyes, and a hunched stance. This was definitely the skin-changer Beorn.

The man surveyed the sleeping dwarves, his eyes lingering on Gandalf. When his eyes searched her side of the room, Mei slammed her eyelids shut, trying to pretend to be asleep. She wasn't sure why, but Beorn gave her the creeps.

She heard Beorn sigh, and only when his footsteps had echoed away did she open her eyes again. Mei could see his shadow flickering in the next room over-the kitchen, Mei presumed.

When Beorn dropped something metal (probably a pan or a pot, or something), several of the dwarves bolted upright in their sleeping bags, startled by the noise. Kili was one of them, and he immediately looked towards her, his eyes wide and questioning.

"It's okay," she whispered to the five dwarves (Kili, Bofur, Ori, Nori and Gloin) who had woken. "It's just Beorn."

Kili nodded, and sank back into his blankets. He had originally set his bedroll down directly next to Mei's, but Thorin had shook has head and gestured to a corner at the far side of the room. He leaned against the wall, observing the shadow of the great skin-changer in the next room over.

Gloin, Nori and Ori were not so quick to relax. They stood, and went to scope out the kitchen, tucking some small swords into their pockets.

"Guys!" Mei hissed. "We should wait for Gandalf before we talk to him!"

"Nonsense!" Gloin replied, much more loudly than Mei would have liked. "I like to know who else is in the area before I fall asleep!"

Mei exhaled in defeat, watching helplessly as the two dwarves crept into the kitchen. She just hoped they wouldn't get themselves into any trouble.

"You must be Beorn," Mei heard Nori proclaim from the kitchen.

"Indeed I am," a deep, thundering voice that Mei assumed belonged to Beorn rumbled through the house, waking several more dwarves, as well as Bilbo.

"What's going on?" the hobbit mumbled sleepily, sitting upright in his sleeping bag.

"Beorn is here," Mei told them.

"Beorn?" Thorin and Gandalf asked at the same time, standing up to join Gloin, Nori and Ori in the kitchen.

Deciding it was safe, Mei stood to follow them, along with Kili and the rest of the dwarves. Bilbo dawdled nervously, peering anxiously into the kitchen.

When Mei entered the kitchen, she found that the place had been completely transformed. Although the actual furnishings-the wooden tables, the cracked cabinets-hadn't budged, the room seemed smaller while the massive skin-changer occupied it. Beorn's massive frame dwarfed the room, as well as its new inhabitants. Mei also noticed that there were dozens of mice scurrying across the kitchen floor that hadn't been there that afternoon. Perhaps Beorn's presence comforted them and eased them out of their tiny holes in the walls.

"So," Beorn said, his voice half stern and half curious. "You are the dwarves I have heard so much about."

"What?" Thorin exclaimed. "Who has told you about us?" His eyes narrowed, and he looked at Beorn with a look of new suspicion.

"The birds and small beasts of the world are not as daft as you might think, Thorin, Son of Thrain, Son of Thror." Beorn bent down (an action that seemed to cause the whole room to quake slightly) and picked up one of the tiny white mice dashing across the floorboards. "They see all, and they tell much."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bombur whispered to Mei, confused.

Gandalf interjected before anyone could say anything more. "Beorn," he said, his voice coaxing. "Why has your cottage moved so far out north? I do not remember it being so close to Mirkwood." The change of subject seemed to ease Thorin, who, until Gandalf had spoken, had been trying to decide whether Beorn had meant him any offense by his last statement.

"The orcs have been following me, Gandalf," Beorn said ominously. "They would attack my cottage at night, armed with great spears and flaming arrows. I needed to get away, so I picked up my cottage and my animals and moved farther north."

"You just picked up your whole house?" Mei cried, astounded.

"Yes," Beorn said, seeming to notice her for the first time. "It was slightly difficult, but I was able to manage."

"I hope our presence here has not endangered you yet again, my old friend," Gandalf said, his brows furrowed in concern.

"Do not worry, Mithrandir," Beorn assured the wizard. "I can move again if I must. We skin-changers were always on the move."

" _Were_?" Bofur asked. "Aren't there any more?"

"No," Mei answered, before Beorn could speak. "They were enslaved by the orcs-the last of the skin-changers that is-and were beaten and tortured for sport." She looked sympathetically at the shackles that still hung from Beorn's lanky limbs. "They made them change back and forth between their forms just for entertainment. It was horrible."

"How are you so familiar with the history of my people?" Beorn asked curiously.

"I… well, it's a long story," Mei said awkwardly, inwardly wishing she had never spoken.

"Very well," Beorn said. "Although your story does sound intriguing, I doubt that you have the time to tell it-for, as you have said, it is a very long one. I assume that you would all like to be on the road again before long."

"You have guessed right, Beorn," Gandalf nodded. "We must reach the Lonely Mountain before Durin's Day, and we have already lost much time due to some unexpected injuries." He looked pointedly at Mei and Thorin, both of them shooting him glares.

Next to her, Dwalin brushed a mouse-who had been crawling up his arm-off onto the floor, where it landed with a soft _squeak_!

 _Oh no_ … Mei thought to herself. _Beorn's about to get angry_ …

And she was right.

"I don't like dwarves," Beorn said, advancing on Dwalin. Although Dwalin looked quite frightening and respectable to any regular person-even a full grown man, basked in the shadow of this giant skin-changer, he looked like nothing more than a child. "They're selfish, and greedy," Beorn continued, wrinkling his nose. "And blind, blind to lives that they deem lesser than their own."

The company was silent for a moment, waiting for Beorn's next words.

"But orcs I hate more," Beorn said, his voice panging with hatred. Looking at the company, he asked, "What do you need?"

* * *

The night was a busy one. Both Thorin and Gandalf agreed that it would be best to leave under cover of darkness, and so they had to be prepared to leave Beorn's great halls within an hour. The dwarves were scuttling about (much as they had that night at Bag End), restocking rucksacks with food, and stuffing clean clothes into small packs. Mei filled her messenger bag (which had gotten quite dirty) with some new shirts (which had belonged to a friend of Beorn's), a few dinner rolls (which were rather delicious), and her new sword (which Gandalf had given to her).

While the rest of the dwarves were still getting ready or making other travel plans with Thorin and Gandalf, Mei decided to go and talk to Bilbo. She hadn't spoken to him yet about his adventures with Gollum back at the goblin tunnels, and she was anxious to learn more.

"Hey, Bilbo!" she greeted the hobbit, taking a seat next to him.

"Hello, Mei," he said, smiling at her.

"You never did tell me what happened with Gollum," Mei said, grinning excitedly.

"Oh, right!" Bilbo laughed. "Would you like to know the full story?"

"Umm, _duh_!" Mei replied, leaning forward.

"Well," Bilbo said, pleased by how captivated Mei was by his story. "After I fell off that bridge, I landed in a pile of mushrooms," he continued. "Then I crawled through a series of dark tunnels, until I came to a clearing of sorts, where there was a dark lake and many rocks. There was a strange, gangly creature-"

"Gollum," Mei interjected. Then, at Bilbo's glare, she quickly apologized, "Sorry! Keep going."

"Anyways," Bilbo said, giving her a pointed look. "He wanted to eat me at first-just imagine!" The hobbit shuddered at the memory. "But then, I pulled out Sting and threatened to use it if he didn't calm down. And calm down he did, mind you! I asked him if he knew the way out, and then he told me that we could play a game of riddles-if I got any of them wrong, he'd kill me. If he got any of them wrong, he'd lead me out of that horrible, stinking underground swamp."

Mei leaned closer, excited to hear the rest of the story. The interactions between Gollum and Bilbo had always been her favorite scenes in _The Hobbit_.

"And so," Bilbo continued. "I told him my very best riddles-but he got all of them right! That Gollum is quite a quick thinker for someone so removed and isolated. Nonetheless, I was able to guess correctly for all of his riddles-thanks to the answers you told me," he nodded at her.

"Wait," Mei interrupted. "Did you find the Ring?"

"Oh!" Bilbo cried. "I nearly forgot! Yes, I did. But Mei?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind not telling anyone about the Ring for the time being. Something about it makes me want to protect it-to not tell anyone about it." Bilbo fingered something-probably the Ring-inside his pocket.

"Alright," Mei said, but she cast a concerned look at the hobbit's trembling fingers clasped around the Ring in his pocket. She hoped that the Ring's power wouldn't be harming poor Bilbo anytime soon.

"Anyways," Bilbo resumed his tale. "I finally asked him: _what have I got in my pocket_? That stumped Gollum, yes it did!"

"He didn't guess correctly, right?" Mei asked.

"Right!" Bilbo said, looking very happy with himself. "He got quite angry after that, and he chased me right out of his cave! Thankfully I got lucky and the way I was running was actually the way out of the goblin tunnels!"

Mei wanted to ask Bilbo some more questions (a specific description of Gollum, to see and hold the One Ring, how Gollum had reacted when he found his Ring missing… just the typical _The Hobbit_ fangirl nonsense) but Thorin had just announced that the company would be departing from Beorn's house in just two minutes.

"Thanks for the story, Bilbo!" Mei grinned at the hobbit and slung her messenger bag onto her shoulder. Standing, she headed over to the door, waiting with some of the other dwarves as a few company members stuffed some last-minute additions into their provisions rucksacks.

She felt a presence next to her, and turned to find the dark-haired Durin prince standing next to her, his wounds freshly bandaged.

"Hey," she said, smiling.

"You know," Kili said, laughing. "You say some strange words sometimes, Mei. Like this 'hey,' that you say in greeting-I assume it means 'hello' or something like that on Earth?"

"Oh!" Mei laughed back. "I forgot that you speak a different sort of dialect than I do! Yeah, back on Earth we say 'hey' usually instead of 'hello,' if we're not being formal."

"Interesting," Kili said, nodding. "Is Earth very different from Middle Earth?"

"Pretty much," Mei replied. "Although, thousands of years ago on Earth, we lived a lot like you guys here in Middle Earth do. Now, we have things like iPhones and computers and electricity that you guys don't have yet."

"What?" Kili asked, confused. "What are 'iPhones'?"

Mei waved a hand dismissively. "It would take too long to explain."

At that moment, Thorin cleared his throat. "Is everyone prepared to leave?" he asked, scanning the room.

The company nodded.

With that, Thorin turned to Beorn. "Thank you," he said, his voice appreciative and much softer than usual. "For everything."

Beorn simply nodded, and then unbolted his massive oak front door to let the dwarves out. "May you ride swiftly, Thorin Oakenshield," he said, with a last look at the company. Then, he transformed himself into his bear form, and went to patrol the grounds outside his house so as to ease their passage to Mirkwood.

The company followed quickly after.

* * *

 **Follows, faves and reviews mean the world to me-thank you for all of your continous support! 3**


	20. Chapter 20: Through Mirkwood

**I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in so long! School really has been taking over my life recently. Also, this chapter was, from an author's perspective, a little dull to write at times, so I wasn't super motivated to continue it. But I've gotten past some of the more annoying, boring parts, and now we're onto some elf drama, haha!**

 **Also, I have an important question for you all. So, I have decided to include Tauriel in this story, because I think she makes the whole debacle with the elves much more interesting. However, I'm not sure if I should have the romance between Kili and Mei interrupted or threatened by her. Otherwise, I'm thinking maybe Tauriel could fall in love with Legolas? Or maybe even one of the other dwarves? Like Thorin or Fili? Tell me what you think please! I'm totally stuck, haha!**

* * *

Into Mirkwood the company ran, eager to escape the warg pack, led by Azog the Defiler. Behind them, Beorn was fighting off the wargs, earning them a staggering head start over the orcs. Even if the orcs did manage to reach the forest, Mei guessed that they'd be too scared to set foot in Mirkwood, and would end up going around the massive forest instead of through it. Although this was partly good news, it also meant that Mirkwood was dangerous-a fact that Mei knew all too well from reading _The Hobbit_. The wood elves and the giant spiders were lurking in these musty trees. Waiting. Watching.

Just as they entered the forest, Mei saw Gandalf up ahead, looking behind some leaves. The wizard jumped, startled. "I am sorry," he said, his voice grave. "I must go at once."

"What?" Mei, and the entire company, shrieked. "You can't leave us here!"

"I would not leave you unless there was somewhere else that I had to be that was very important." Gandalf said evasively, mounting his white horse. "I must go. I am sorry." With a stern look at Thorin, he added, "Do not stray from the stone path. If you do, you might never find it again." And with that strange word of parting, the wizard rode off.

"Now what?" Nori whined, looking longingly at the shape of the horse and wizard riding farther and farther away.

"We keep going," Thorin said, turning back towards the thick area of trees in front of them. "There is no time to waste."

With quite some grumbling, the dwarves followed Thorin into the thick trees, careful to step well inside the lines that divided the unruly underbrush from the cleared stone path.

Mei was the last to follow, having an urge to see whatever it was that had startled Gandalf so badly. She peered cautiously behind the same leaves, careful not to touch the tree bark behind them. There was a marking there, a marking of a red eye. When she reached out a trembling hand to touch it, she felt her body grow weak and a burning sensation in her fingertip. An image of a lidless, fiery eye filled her head, causing her to cry out, whether from shock or pain she did not know.

"Mei!" she heard someone call her name. But they were far, far away. Mei felt herself sinking to the ground, her body growing limp.

But a sharp jolt snapped her back to reality. The jolt had come from a very concerned-looking Kili shaking her awake.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice frantic with worry.

Mei blinked a few times to clear the haunting image of Sauron's eye from her mind, and rubbed her fingertip where, until recently, there had been an intense burning pain. Now, there was nothing. It felt as though the entire event had never even happened.

"Mei!" Kili cried, shaking her again. "Talk to me!"

"What?" she asked, Kili's voice startling her back to reality yet again. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired is all." She wasn't sure what it was about what had just happened, but she felt as though she didn't want Kili to know about it. At least, not just yet.

"Are you sure?" Kili's huge brown eyes scanned her face concernedly.

"Yeah, fine," she replied, standing up.

A few of the other company members had trailed behind to see if their resident seer was okay.

"What happened to Mei?" Gloin asked, his usually gruff voice edged with worry.

"Nothing, nothing," Mei told the dwarves. "I'm fine-just tired."

"Aren't we all!" Oin grumbled, looking at the forest of Mirkwood before their feet. "This damned forest makes my head go all fuzzy!"

"But Oin," Kili reasoned sarcastically. "Your head is _always_ fuzzy!"

Oin shot Kili a humourous glare, clapping the young dwarf on the back. "Watch your tongue, Master Kili!" he laughed, starting back into the forest.

The other dwarves followed quickly after him, with Kili staying behind for a few extra moment to make sure (for what seemed like the ten billionth time) that Mei was alright.

The company had been traveling through Mirkwood for hours.

Or had it been days? Weeks? Months? Years?

The latter seemed the most likely.

The effort of keeping her feet going, one after the other, was causing Mei to break out in a tired, frustrated sweat. She could tell that the other dwarves were experiencing the same issue-they were all blindly staggering through the underbrush, mumbling nonsense and batting away flies that weren't there.

Mei looked over her shoulder at Bilbo, who was walking behind her, and found that instead of seeing the hobbit's face, she saw only a reflection of herself.

"I'm going crazy," she mumbled, her eyelids drooping.

Next to her, Kili stumbled over an imaginary branch, his feet pounding the stone path with a careless pattern of staggers and wobbles.

But wait. The path.

It wasn't actually there. That had just been one of the many hallucinations that had been filling her head ever since they had entered the forest. Now that she looked more closely at the ground beneath her feet, she could see that they were walking on a vine-covered dirt sideroad-not the main path.

"The path!" she yelled, the raspiness and weakness of her voice surprising her. "It's gone!"

"The lassie's right!" Nori murmured, looking at the ground before him with a look of lazy concern.

"Find the path!" Thorin ordered, his voice, usually so commanding and confident, sounded almost drunken.

The staggering dwarves roamed around the area, looking in vain for the path. But nobody could find it, not even Bilbo (who seemed to be less affected by the haze of Mirkwood than any of them).

"We need to climb one of the trees!" Mei heard him saying. "Then we can get fresh air-and find out which way to go!"

Mei remembered how Bilbo had climbed one of the trees in _The Hobbit_ and how it had helped him get a good idea of which direction to go. But she also recalled how the spiders had ambushed the dwarves as soon as Bilbo had left.

"Bilbo's right," she told the dwarves, who didn't seem to be listening to her. "We have to climb the trees!"

The dwarves looked at her blankly, their eyes glassy and their mouths hanging open.

"Guys!" she barked, new strength returning to her voice. "Just climb the goddamn trees!"

But still none of the dwarves responded.

"Oh, screw this," Mei snapped, turning to Bilbo. Her own harshness surprised her, as it was unusual for her awkward self to speak at all loudly or cruelly. "Let's climb the trees ourselves. Hopefully the dwarves won't get captured by the spiders in the time we're gone-let's make it quick."

The two of them began climbing up the tall oak trees. Mei's limbs, which had never been very strong, were even more weak from her trek through Mirkwood, and it took her a good while to join Bilbo at the tree's peak. But as soon as she did, her mind seemed to clear, and her lungs filled with clean, clear air. The frustrated, angry feeling that had caused her to snap at the dwarves vanished, and she felt instantly more like her old self. The blue sky was a refreshing sight to her tired eyes, the feel of a chilly breeze on her skin was even more relaxing.

Next to her, Bilbo was taking in the same comforts, his deep, relieved breaths echoing through the leaves. All of a sudden, he cried, "I know which way to go!"

"Really?" Mei looked in the direction the hobbit was pointing. She could make out chimney smoke rising from some far off town, and the misty point of a mountain even farther off. But she knew, even from this indistinct glance, that she was getting her first glimpse of Laketown and the Lonely Mountain.

"We'd better go tell the others!" Bilbo said, peering down through the leaves back down at the ground at the base of the tree. Although the view through the hundreds of leaves wasn't the best, Mei found her heart sinking when she saw now trace of the familiar dwarves on the ground below.

She and Bilbo quickly clambered down the tree, eager to rejoin their friends. Hopefully the giant spiders, of which Mei knew dwelt in this forest, hadn't gotten to the dwarves first.

It looked like they had.

As soon as Mei's boots touched the ground, she felt her mind go slightly hazy again, but she felt not nearly as bad as before. But she could see no sign of the dwarves, and heard the faint scuttling of sharp pincers above her.

"Oh no," she breathed, pulling out the sword that Gandalf had given her. "Bilbo!" she hissed to the frightened hobbit. "Take out Sting!"

"Whaaa?" Bilbo squeaked, his voice cracking. Ignoring her previous command, he asked, "Did you hear that?"

Above them, a branch snapped. Looking up, Mei found herself looking straight into a ginormous, eight-legged, eight-eyed spider. It's legs were easily each the size of two grown men, and it's body was covered with fuzzy, black hair.

"Eww!" Mei screamed, disgusted. She had always hated spiders, and now that there was one this _big_ about to kill her… her heart skipped a few beats.

"Mei!" Bilbo screeched, pointing to something behind her.

She whirled around, only to find herself face-to-face with a rancid, hairy spider. It's eight eyes glared at her, it's pointed stinger ready to attack.

Screaming again, she instinctively stabbed her sword into one of the spider's many eyes. Black, sticky blood burst from the wound, and the spider fell backwards in pain, it's many legs scrambling to find footing on the dirt-covered forest floor.

Behind her, she heard the sound of Bilbo's sword piercing the spider that had been looming in the trees, and the hobbit's horrified gasp as it fell to the ground with a growl of pain.

"Nice work!" she yelled to him, but stopped short as soon as she saw the familiar shapes of more spiders crawling towards them.

"Run!" Bilbo screamed, and the two of them tore through the forest, the sounds of dozens more spiders urging them to move faster.

Mei tripped over one of the low-hanging branches lying on the forest floor, and landed on the ground with a soft _oof_ noise.

"Mei!" Bilbo turned to help her.

"No, Bilbo, go!" Mei ordered him, untangling her leg from the tree root. "Climb the trees! You'll find the captured dwarves somewhere up there!"

"They'll see me!" Bilbo glanced worriedly at the spiders crawling above their heads.

"Use the Ring!" Mei said, exasperated.

"But what about you?" Bilbo asked.

"I'll catch up with you," Mei said, giving the hobbit what she hoped looked more like an encouraging smile than a grimace.

With one last look at her, Bilbo reached into his pocket, put on the ring and vanished.

At last, her leg was free from the roots. Mei stood up, her sword clasped tight in her trembling fingers. The spiders had surrounded her now, and she was quite sure that one sword couldn't kill even half of them. _I'm doomed_ , she thought to herself, turning in a circle, examining the eight-eyed creatures hissing and scuttling around her.

Just as several of the spiders were about to stick their stingers into her arm, a new sound right above them made the spiders pause.

Looking up, Mei saw the movement of leather boots in the branches above, and a flash of green cloaks. _Wood-elves_! she thought excitedly, grinning.

A flurry of arrows from the leaves and branches above pierced the spiders around her, causing them to flail wildly about, their many legs banging into the trees surrounding them.

"Awesome!" Mei laughed, turning towards the sources of the arrows. "You wood-elves are so freaking _cool_!"

But her excitement was cut short when she found herself face-to-face with a man holding a sword to her throat. Only, it wasn't a man. It was an elf-his angular face and long, braided hair told her that much.

"Who are you?" he snarled, looking her over. He was much taller than she was, for Mei had shrunk down to the size of a hobbit or a dwarf when she had landed in Middle-Earth.

"Oh, me?" Mei laughed nervously. "I'm, uh, I'm Mei!"

"Mei?" the elf looked confused. "That is not a name familiar to me."

"She must be a spy," a new voice, this time female, spoke up. Mei turned her head slightly to see a red-headed she-elf strolling towards them.

"Oh my gosh!" Mei squeaked, her heart thrumming with excitement despite her current predicament. "It's you! You're Tauriel!"

"How is it that you know my name?" Tauriel frowned, her suspicion mounting.

"It's a long story," Mei trailed off awkwardly, wishing she had kept her mouth shut.

"Take her to the King," Tauriel ordered the elf who held the blade to Mei's throat. "He'll know what to do with her."

 _I'm meeting Thranduil?_ Mei had to stop herself from crying out in happiness.

But next to her, she heard the crash and thudding of bodies falling onto the forest floor. Turning, she saw the web-encrusted form of Thorin Oakenshield, who was fighting his way out of the sticky webs that bound his body.

"Thorin!" she cried. "Are you alright?"

Thorin, whose face was now visible, looked at her, confused. "Mei?" he asked. "Is that you?" Then he noticed the elves standing beside her, and his face contorted.

"Oakenshield?" Another voice, a more commanding one, sounded behind all of them. A blonde elf, Mei knew his name to be Legolas, son of King Thranduil, emerged from the trees, his gaze hardening into a scowl when he saw Thorin.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! All reviews, favorites and follows are greatly appreciated!**

 **And I'll copy and paste the important question that I talked about earlier in the beginning A/N in case you missed it:**

 _ **Also, I have an important question for you all. So, I have decided to include Tauriel in this story, because I think she makes the whole debacle with the elves much more interesting. However, I'm not sure if I should have the romance between Kili and Mei interrupted or threatened by her. Otherwise, I'm thinking maybe Tauriel could fall in love with Legolas? Or maybe even one of the other dwarves? Like Thorin or Fili? Tell me what you think please! I'm totally stuck, haha!**_


	21. Chapter 21: Of Calculus & Boyfriends

Thorin and Legolas glared at each other for a long while, their eyes scanning the other, searching for signs of weakness or vulnerability. Finally, Legolas broke their eye contact and gave Thorin a swift kick to the back, knocking the dwarf king off his feet.

"Bind his hands," Legolas ordered, smirking down at Thorin. "Bring him and the girl to my father."

With a growl, Thorin scowled after Legolas, squirming in the hands of the elf who was tying his wrists together.

At that moment, a flurry of bodies landed onto the ground, fallen from the trees above. Mei could make out the web-covered forms of Kili, Fili, Balin and Ori.

"Uncle!" Fili and Kili shouted at the same time, as soon as they saw Thorin. Then, they took in the presence of the elves and mimicked Thorin's scowl.

"More dwarves?" one of the elves asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Tell me," Legolas pulled out a shining, pointed sword and held it at Thorin's throat. "Are there any more of you?"

Thorin's eyes darkened, but he said nothing.

But at that moment, the rest of the company (excluding Bilbo) fell in one huge mass from the web-laced trees.

Smirking again, Legolas sheathed his sword and nodded to one of the elves to bind the hands of the rest of the dwarves.

* * *

They were thrown roughly into cells, their bound bodies landing hard on the cold, stone floor.

The elves slammed the wrought iron doors shut on them, ordering their prisoners to hold their bound hands out through the gaps in the bars. The elves swiftly cut off the ropes that tied their hands together, and, just as swiftly, left the company alone, and trapped, in the dungeon.

Mei flexed her newly freed fingers, happy that the blood circulation to her hand was no longer cut off. She looked around the cell, took in it's dim corners, it's stone walls.

In the cell with her was Kili and Thorin, both of whom seemed utterly furious at their current predicament.

"Relax," she chided, helping a sulking Kili to his feet. "Bilbo will be here soon enough."

Thorin said something (that sounded an awful lot like a curse) in Dwarvish, and then gave the iron door of their cell a satisfying kick.

In the other cells, Mei could hear the dwarves grumbling as well, kicking and punching the doors of their cells just as Thorin had.

Sighing, Mei slumped down in a corner of her cell. Kili sat down next to her, the usual mischievous flicker in his eyes gone.

"Are you sure Bilbo will come?" Kili asked.

"Of course he'll come," Mei replied, although she wasn't entirely sure. The way things happened in this world had proven to vary from the way they happened in _The Hobbit_. She couldn't be sure of anything, really.

The two of them sat in silence, watching Thorin angrily spit curses and heave his body against the iron gate.

"Well," Mei said, turning to face Kili. "We might as well pass the time. We should talk about something-anything. This silence is driving me crazy."

Kili sighed, his eyes gazing blankly into the distance. Then, all of a sudden, he brightened. "Will you tell me more about Earth?" he asked, his delighted face displaying the characteristics of a child ready to hear their favorite story.

Mei rolled her eyes jokingly, for she had told Kili practically everything she knew about Earth already, but she was still thrilled for the change in his mood.

"What do you want to know?" she asked.

"Tell me about the other people," he said. "The ones at your… what was it called? Your pool?"

"My pool?" Mei asked, confused. Then, it dawned on her. "Oh, right! My _schoolI_!"

"Yes, your school," Kili said, scooting closer to her, grinning excitedly.

Laughing a little at his intense excitement to hear about something she personally found to be so boring, she said, "Well, everyone was my age, give or take a year or two, and we all went to this school called Riverton High. All of us had to take these _really_ boring classes, like calculus and chemistry and European history."

"Were you good at those things?" Kili asked.

Mei laughed awkwardly. "Not really," she said, remembering how she had been struggling to maintain a C average in calculus, and how her chemistry teacher had been threatening to make her repeat the year of science because of how terrible her grades were.

"What kinds of things did you learn in… _calculus_?" Kili said, testing out the word on his tongue.

"Well," Mei hesitated. "It's sort of hard to explain, but I guess you can say that we learned about formulas? And graphs, and such?"

"Formulas?" Kili asked, confused. "Graphs?"

"Well, you learn things like how to plot different functions on these stupid graphs. It's really confusing-or, at least it was for me."

"What were the other people like?" Kili said, obviously too confused by the whole "calculus" endeavour to probe the topic any further. "Your friends, I mean."

"Oh," Mei said, grimacing. "I didn't really have any. Or, I used to, until they all got boyfriends. Then they didn't really want to spend time with me anymore."

"Boyfriends?" Kili asked, raising an eyebrow. "Who were they?"

"Well, a boyfriend was, obviously, a boy, who you 'went out with,' for awhile. Usually it didn't last very long-a couple of months, maybe. You might kiss or," she blushed, "do other things, but it never really meant anything."

"Did you have one?" Kili asked, his face becoming more serious. "A boyfriend?"

Another awkward laugh. "No," Mei answered, remembering how she had watched her old friends laughing and flirting with the other boys in the grade, how she had jealously witnessed their kisses and their adorable Valentine's Day gift exchanges. "There was nobody there who really 'liked' me in that way, I guess."

"How?" Kili blurted, before he could stop himself. "You're so…" he trailed off, blushing scarlet. "I mean, you're really nice, and…" Another uncomfortable silence.

* * *

 **Still deciding between a Fili/Tauriel romance and a Thorin/Tauriel romance... whichever one I deicde to pursue will start to form in the next chapter! :) If you have any input, I'd love to hear it!**


	22. Chapter 22: Brotherly Sacrifice

"Wake up."

Groggily, Mei opened her eyes. She could just make out the blurry form of Thorin Oakenshield, kneeling on the ground. He looked angry. Although, didn't he always look like that?

Yawning, Mei felt the presence of something under her head. Turning slightly, she found that her head had been resting on Kili's shoulder, and the two of them had fallen asleep in the corner of the cell. Quickly, she straightened, blushing.

Thorin gave her a significant look, then went to wake his nephew.

* * *

It was their second night in the Elven dungeons, although it seemed as though they had been locked up in their cells for centuries. The dwarves were getting more and more restless, and even cheerful Bofur (in the cell next door) was beginning to sulk.

"Where is the hobbit?" Dwalin grunted, slumping against the cell wall.

"Is it supposed to take him this long, Miss Mei?" Nori asked Mei from the cell across the room.

"I don't know, Nori," Mei groaned, slightly annoyed. The dwarves had been asking her if she knew when Bilbo would turn up to rescue them at least four times an hour now, and it had truly begun to get irritating.

The door to the dungeon clanged open, and all of the dwarves looked excitedly towards the stone steps, expecting to see their curly-haired burglar slinking down the stairs. But when it was only Tauriel who entered the dungeon, they each gave an exasperated sigh.

Glaring at them, she took a stool and placed it in front of Dwalin and Fili's cell (which was right next to Mei's). When she sat upon it, Mei saw the sparkle of a keyring hooked onto her belt.

Fili must have seen it too, for he took a step closer to the cell door, eyeing the keyring.

Tauriel began sharpening her sword, obviously bored.

Fili reached out tentatively through the bars, his fingers advancing on the metal ring. Mei watched as his index finger curled around the keyring, and didn't dare breathe. Could they actually be able to escape now?

But Tauriel obviously hadn't been completely oblivious to Fili's scheme. With frightening speed, she whirled out of reach, breaking Fili's hold of the keyring. Smirking, she sheathed her sword and placed a protective hand over the ring of keys. "Not so fast, _dwarf_ ," she said, although the smile she gave him was not entirely unkind.

Fili gulped. "I-I… please forgive me," he stammered, looking into Tauriel's bright green eyes. A bright red flush crept up his cheeks.

Mei had to stop herself from squealing with excitement. It wasn't like Fili to get tongue-tied or even to blush, and the fact that it was happening now…

She turned to Kili, and saw that the dark-haired dwarf had his mouth open and was staring, shocked at his brother.

"You don't think…" Kili gestured towards his brother, who was having another conversation with Tauriel. "I mean…"

Mei grinned at him. "This is so adorable!" she whispered, watching Fili and Tauriel talk to each other, both of them seemingly transfixed by the other.

"I have walked there sometimes," Tauriel began. "Beyond the forest and up into the night. I have seen the world fall away and the white light forever fill the air."

"I saw fire-moon once. It rose over the hill near Dundin. Huge. Red and gold it was that filled the sky…" Fili said, and Tauriel sat back down on her stool again to listen.

"But she's an elf!" Kili hissed as he and Mei watched the conversation between his brother and the elf-guard continue.

"So?" Mei asked. Having always loved romance stories (although, she had never really been lucky enough to experience romance for herself), she was always a sucker for cute romantic moments, or to watch a perfect relationship develop.

"She's an elf!" Kili said again. "An elf and a dwarf can't fall in love!"

Kili's words hit her like an icy blast of wind. She wasn't quite sure what there was between her and Kili, but she liked to think that he liked her-maybe even loved her. She couldn't be certain, but it was hard not to fantasize.

But if an elf and a dwarf couldn't fall in love, what about her and Kili? She might not be an elf, but she still wasn't a dwarf. Would she-an awkward, silly human-ever be allowed to love Kili-an esteemed, important prince?

Mei looked over at Kili again, but he was back to watching his brother and Tauriel converse, a look of horror on his face.

A flash of emotions-anger, confusion, pain-struck her, and suddenly, she just wanted to be alone.

She stood up, brushed off her jeans, and walked over to the other side of the cell. Mei knew she was overreacting-Kili probably hadn't even meant anything by what he had said. But just the fact that ideals of such an improper romance were so ingrained in his personality, made her doubt their own relationship. If there even was a "relationship" to begin with.

* * *

Mei thought she might go mad.

Bilbo had better be on his way, or else she was quite sure she'd strangle Nori (who had been asking her whether or not she was sure Bilbo would come at least _ten times an hour_ now).

Tauriel and Legolas had taken turns guarding the dwarves, both of whom had very different methods. Tauriel usually just talked with Fili the entire time she was in the dungeon (but on the several occasions that Dwalin and Thorin had tried to snatch her keyring, she had swiftly twirled out of the way, causing them to grumble), while Legolas found it more interesting to trash talk Thorin and sneer at them the whole time.

Mei had always loved Legolas when she had read about him in _The Lord of the Rings_ , but she had to admit, he was being kind of a jerk.

Tonight, though, a new guard was posted at the dungeon door. He looked half-drunk, a conclusion reinforced by the tankard of beer in his hand.

Mei crept over to Thorin, who was sitting, alert as ever, at the cell door, his blue eyes scanning the dungeon.

"I think Bilbo's coming tonight," she whispered in his ear. She didn't know how she knew, she just had a gut feeling, and could tell that Bilbo would get them out of this mess soon enough.

Thorin straightened, and gave her a curt nod.

Another guard strolled into the dungeon, clearly intoxicated. "Come up to the party," he drawled sleepily to the first guard, grinning drunkenly.

"I have to stay down here," the first guard replied, but it didn't seem like he wanted to.

"Aw, c'mon," the second guard laughed maniacally.

"Alright," the first said, laughing just as stupidly.

As soon as they were gone, Bilbo appeared-out of thin air, it seemed-at the center of the dungeon.

"Bilbo!" they all cried at once, clambering to their cell doors.

"Shh!" the hobbit hissed, putting a finger to his lips. "Be quiet!"

The company shut up.

Bilbo waggled a jingling key ring in the air, grinning. Creeping quietly to each of their cells, he unlocked the massive padlocks on the doors, opening them with slight _creak_ noises.

When Mei's cell was opened, she, Thorin and Kili rushed out, eager to feel the air outside of their musty cell.

But there wasn't much time to rejoice. Bilbo led them out of the dungeon and into a back room, where thirteen barrels were stacked neatly.

"Into the barrels, quick!" Bilbo whispered, glancing nervously at the two guards, who were sleeping, that sat in chairs at the far corner of the room.

"What?" Dwalin hissed.

"Do as he says!" Thorin replied. "Quickly!"

The dwarves grumbled, but did climb into the barrels. Once all of them were inside, Bilbo and Mei found themselves without barrels. Standing alone on the wooden floor, they glanced at each other, awkward grimaces on their faces.

"The two of you-find someone else to share a barrel with!" Thorin barked. "There's no time to lose!"

"Mei can come with me," Kili offered, smiling at her.

But Mei remembered what he had said a few nights ago, and said instead, "I think I'll go with Fili."

"Works for me," Fili shrugged, and scooted over in the barrel so that Mei could squeeze in too. Having been blessed with an insanely high metabolism, she had always had an issue gaining weight, but found no problem in fitting into the barrel.

Behind her, she could practically hear Kili's confusion, almost see his hurt face. She wasn't sure what it was that was making her act this way, but decided it was too late now to go back.

Bilbo quickly pulled the lever that dropped the barrels into the river, and then jumped into a barrel with Oin.

Fighting the urge to scream, Mei and Fili's barrel plummeted into the icy waters, dropping a good twenty feet. Frigid, foaming water flooded into the barrel, soaking Mei's no-longer-white sneakers and jeans.

The current carried the barrels downstream, but not without more water sloshing into the barrels. Mei winced every time another cold wave overflowed into the wooden vessel, her skin chilled and her clothes sopping.

"There's some guards ahead!" Mei heard Thorin yell. "Paddle faster!"

The dwarves desperately began to paddle, but their efforts proved useless when Mei saw the Elvish guards begin to lower the gate that closed off their path further downstream.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mei saw Tauriel and Legolas sprinting down rocks and ledges, advancing on the guard post. They were so doomed.

But just then, an arrow, not an Elvish arrow, but a much fouler, more crudely made arrow, shot past Thorin's ear and landed, with a little _whing_ noise in the bark of a nearby tree.

Mei turned to see an orc archer, his bow cocked with another arrow. An arrow aimed at Mei.

"Oh, shi-" Mei hurriedly ducked, the arrow boinging off of the edge of the barrel and landing in the water.

The gate was now completely closed. Thorin threw his body against it, as if hoping his sheer anger and will would cause it to break open.

Tauriel and Legolas now directed their arrows towards the orcs, which were rapidly increasing in numbers as they emerged from the trees. Arrows, both Elf-made and of orc makings whizzed past their barrels. If anyone needed a perfect definition of chaos, Mei would be happy to snap a picture of her life at this moment and send it to them.

Ahead, Mei saw Kili make eye contact with the lever that controlled the gate. With a grunt, he hauled himself out of his barrel and began mounting the stairs that led to the lever. Dwalin threw him an a sword (which had previously belonged to an orc that had met a rather unfortunate end), and Kili caught it, just in time to block the attack of an orc.

But just as Kili had reached the lever, Mei heard the unmistakable sound of a bowstring being drawn back. Turning, she saw an orc archer, his bow wielding a particularly large, threatening arrow. The arrow's point was directed straight at Kili's lower calf.

"No…" Mei breathed.

Fili must have seen the orc archer as well. With surprising speed and strength, he hoisted himself out of the barrel and onto the guard post where Kili stood. Just as the arrow was let loose, Fili jumped in front of the lever, the arrow piercing his calf instead of Kili's.

* * *

 **Ooh the drama. As you can probably tell, I decided to go with a Fili/Tauriel romance. I actually wrote this chapter with both a Fili/Tauriel and Thorin/Tauriel romance, but decided that the Fili/Tauriel was a) easier for the plot and b) easier to write. As _tidje_ so cleverly pointed out in a review, a Thorin/Tauriel romance would be both challenging and interesting. I just found that Thorin/Tauriel took me a lot longer to write, and it would take me ages to get up any updates. So, Fili/Tauriel it is. :)**

 **Faves, follows and reviews are so appreciated! 3**


	23. Chapter 23: It's All Your Fault

Fili sank to his knees, grimacing in pain.

"Fili!" Kili cried, his voice cracking in horror.

Mei clapped her hands over her mouth, fighting the urge to scream. How could this have happened?

"Pull… the… lever…" Fili groaned, clutching his leg. "Now."

Kili gave his brother another concerned glance, but obliged and pulled the lever. Immediately, the gate blocking their path further downstream rising.

Thorin, who had been fighting off an orc with a huge tree branch, turned and saw the rising gate. Confused, he looked up at the lever and saw his two nephews, one of them pierced with an arrow and the other frantically trying to help him. A look of pure anguish crossed Thorin's face. "Fili! Kili!" he yelled, his pained voice echoing across the waters.

The company, most of whom hadn't noticed that the Durin brothers were up at the guard post, turned to look at Fili and Kili now, the panic on their faces clear as day.

But the barrels were moving again, and Mei knew that this wasn't a good place to linger. Pushing her horrified feelings away, Mei cried, "Back into the barrels!" to Fili and Kili.

Fili nodded, and fell clumsily back into their barrel, causing it to rock precariously. Mei tried not to look at the growing spot of dark blood on his calf.

Kili jumped into his own barrel, but not after making sure his brother had made it into his barrel safely.

The company floated further downstream, a continuous stream of arrows from both the orcs and the elves ricocheting off their wooden barrels.

"Mei!" Fili yelled from behind her. "Watch out!"

Mei turned to see an arrow whizzing towards her, it's point set to bury itself in her chest. Her eyes widened in fear, but she found her body unable to move.

Just as the arrow was set to reach her, Fili heaved himself against the barrel, causing it to spin around.

And instead of hitting her, the arrow landed in Fili's arm.

"Oh my god," Mei gasped, fear and guilt settling in her stomach. "Oh my god."

Fili groaned, the pain in both his leg and arm causing him to collapse onto the bottom of the barrel.

"I'm so sorry, Fili!" Mei sank down next to him. How could she have let this happen? How?

To her right, Mei saw Tauriel emerge from the trees, her hand covering her mouth. "Fili!" she cried.

Mei felt the tears start to come pouring down her cheeks. She had let this happen. She had let Fili take the arrow for her. She had let him endure all of this pain. If he died, this would all be her fault. "Oh, Fili," she sobbed, wiping her eyes.

Another arrow bounced off of the rim of their barrel, bringing her attention back to the fight going on around them.

"Just stop it!" she half-yelled, half-sobbed at the orc archers. She knew it wouldn't do any good, but she couldn't help it. "What's wrong with you? Just stop!"

As another black, crudely made arrow came whizzing past her ear, Mei grabbed a fallen branch from the stream and brandished it at the orcs. "Don't you dare try to shoot him again!" she screamed.

One of the archers just laughed and fired off another shot. But Mei blocked it with the branch, the arrow embedding itself in the wood with a _thunk_.

* * *

It was a long, harrowing journey downstream, and even once they had finally left the orcs behind and reached land again, the company was drained. Although nobody else had gotten shot, almost everyone was covered in blood, soaking wet, and were exhausted.

When their barrels crashed against the rocks of the shore, Mei quickly pulled their barrel onto the sandy beach. Carefully, she helped Fili out of the barrel, her heart shattering at the sight of his wounds. This was all her fault. All of it.

The company ran over to Fili, their faces grave. Oin knelt down next to the dwarf, examining his wounds with a helpless expression. "This is beyond my skill to heal," he said, a tear rolling down his cheek. "I am sorry."

"No," Kili said, disbelieving. "No! There has to be a way. There has to be a way that we can save him!"

Oin shook his head. "Even Elvish medicine would have a low chance of working. I'm sorry, Kili."

 _No_ … Mei couldn't believe it. More tears welled up in her eyes.

Thorin walked away from the group, mumbling something about needing some time alone. But Mei could see that he was crying.

Kili gave several pained gasps, turning away from his brother's body. Then his eyes narrowed into angry slits, and he whirled on Mei.

"This is all your fault!" he growled, advancing on her. "If you hadn't been so cowardly… so weak…" Kili trailed off, his voice catching. "If you weren't so damn helpless all the time, he might still be alive!"

Mei bit her lip to keep from crying. This really was all her fault. She should have been the one to die, not Fili. Not innocent, brave, caring Fili.

"I'm sorry," she said weakly. She knew it wasn't enough, that whatever she did would _never_ be enough to make up for this, but it was all she could say.

"You're _sorry_?" Kili barked.

"I know that this is all my fault," Mei sobbed. "I should have been better. I should have been braver. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I couldn't save him, Kili. I'm sorry…" she sank to her knees, guilt and fear and a billion other feelings washing over her.

Bofur came over to her and patted her on the shoulder. "It's alright, Mei," he said, and although he too was distressed by Fili's injuries, his voice was comforting.

Mei look up through her tears and saw Kili by Fili's body, Dwalin awkwardly clapping him on the back in an attempt to soothe the grief-stricken dwarf.

"I can't believe this," Mei said to Bofur. "And it's all my doing."

"No," Bofur said. "This isn't your fault, Mei. It was Fili's choice to save you, not yours."

All of a sudden, Fili, whom they had all considered to be dead, emitted a cough.

"Oh my god!" Mei gasped, hardly daring to believe her ears. "He's alive!"

Surprised laughs and even a few cheers erupted from the dwarves.

"Fili!" Kili cried, kneeling next to his brother. "You're alive!"

"Well of course I'm alive," Fili croaked, giving a weak smile. "You didn't think I'd leave you here all alone, did you, little brother?"

Kili grinned and hugged Fili, being careful not to press his brother's wounds. "We'd better get you to a doctor," he said.

Thorin, who by now had heard the cheers, ran back to them, his tearstained face lighting up when he saw his nephew sitting up in Kili's arms.

But before any further celebrating could take place, a voice said, "Who are you? And what are you doing in these lands?"

Turning, Mei saw a middle-aged man standing before them, his bow strung with an arrow.

"We are simple merchants," Balin interjected. "From the Blue Mountains, I might add. We are traveling to see our kin in the Iron Hills."

Bard didn't look like he believed the old dwarf.

"Do you know of a way we can cross through Laketown?" Thorin asked the man.

"Ah," Bard grimaced. "For that, you would need a smuggler."

"For which we will pay," Balin said, all too eagerly.

Bard raised an eyebrow. "Alright," he said. "But I expect the payment up front."

"No," Thorin said. "We will pay you after, not before."

"Then I'm afraid I can be of no use to you," Bard gave a mischievous smile.

Thorin whispered something to Balin, who nodded. The dwarves handed Bard a sack of gold coins.

"There," Thorin growled. "Now take us to Laketown. And quickly." He glanced at his wounded nephew.

* * *

The company made it to Laketown without any trouble. Surprisingly, there were no conflicts with Alfrid, the fishmonger, or even any of the Laketown inhabitants. Bard had managed to smuggle them on his boat inside of the barrels, and then had brought his boat to the underside of a rickety wooden house. All of the houses in Laketown were built on stilts so that they were raised above the water.

"Up these stairs," Bard nodded to a ladder that led, Mei knew, through Bard's toilet.

The dwarves climbed suspiciously up the stairs, disappearing into Bard's house.

Mei was the last to mount the ladder and only did so after checking to make sure to both Fili and Kili had made it safely up the stairs.

"You are no dwarf?" Bard asked her, just as she was climbing the first step.

"No," Mei said awkwardly. "I'm a human, actually."

Bard looked at her, puzzled. "You are a human? Why are you so…" he trailed off.

"Small?" Mei laughed. "It's complicated."

"Very well," Bard smiled.

And with that, Mei climbed up the ladder and through the toilet bowl. It was a truly strange experience, and when she finally came up at the surface of the water, sputtering and soaking wet, she found herself face to face with a brown-haired boy, his hand outstretched to help her up.

Gratefully, she took the boy's hand and stepped out of the toilet bowl, wringing out her hair and wiping her wet face with her sleeve.

"Hello," the boy said, obviously confused as to why thirteen dwarves, one hobbit, and now a shrunken human girl were coming out of his toilet.

"Hey," she said, trying to remember who this boy was. She felt like she knew his name, but she just couldn't remember it…

"I'm Bain," he said, holding out his hand again, but this time it was for a handshake.

"I'm Mei," she said, shaking his hand. Bain seemed much older than she had thought he would be-he was at least seventeen.

"You don't look like the other dwarves," Bain said, looking her over.

"I'm not a dwarf," Mei said, hoping she didn't sound too exasperated. She should just buy a T-shirt that had the words "I AM NOT A DWARF. I AM A HUMAN SHRUNK DOWN THE SIZE OF A DWARF. THANK YOU VERY MUCH" printed on it, judging by the number of times she was asked about her strange appearance.

"I'm sorry if I offended you," Bain said, flushing.

"No, no, it's fine," Mei smiled.

* * *

 **Aww, poor Fili really took a beating in the last two chapters. And don't worry, Kili won't stay a jerk forever. :)**

 **Ooh, and do I sense some Bain/Mei romance? Haha, I tried to be original (lol when does that ever work out) and incorporate Bain as a larger character.**

 **Reviews, follows and faves are all so, so, so appreciated! 3**


	24. Chapter 24: A Welcoming, A Party, A Kiss

The dwarves had only stayed at Bard's home for a few days now, and yet the place had been completely trashed. Greasy, half-empty pots laid in haphazard stacks in the kitchen (Bombur's doing), and blankets, makeshift weapons and bloody bandages from Fili's wounds were scattered about the floor like confetti.

Mei had tried her best to be as helpful as possible, because she still felt bad about what had happened to Fili, even though the dwarf had insisted that it hadn't been her fault.

Fili's wounds weren't getting any better, a fact that troubled all of them (most of all, Kili). Their original excitement surrounding his "coming back from the dead," after the barrel fight had been short lived, and Mei began to realize just how quickly the poisons from the arrow were spreading.

Kili hadn't left Fili's side, and was always there to change his brother's bandages or to squeeze his hand when Fili had one of his painful fits. It was difficult to watch Kili caring for his brother, and it was even more difficult to watch the prince's face turn grave when he would unwrap his brother's bandages and find even more blood soaking through the white cotton than the last time he had removed them. _It's my fault_ , Mei thought to herself, her heart clenching as she watched the two of them, tears welling in her eyes.

She had tried to help care for Fili, but every time she got within ten paces of the wounded dwarf, Kili would turn to her and give her a look that would have withered a fresh bouquet of flowers. His anger at her did nothing to fix her shattered heart, and she found that crying herself to sleep was the only way to get any rest anymore.

"Mei?"

She turned to find Bain standing behind her, holding a bowl of soup that Bombur had prepared. "Bombur told me to give you this."

Mei shook her head. "I'm not hungry," she said, glancing back at Fili and Kili. The dark-haired prince threw another set of bloodied bandages onto the floor, and in the brief moment that Fili's arm was bare, Mei could see the dark, deep wound where the arrow puncture had gotten worse. Her entire body seemed to fall, as if the floor had simply opened up and swallowed her whole. Fili wasn't getting better, and, by the looks of his arm, he never would.

"You haven't eaten since you got here," Bain said worriedly, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Are you sure you're alright?" He followed the path of her eyes to the two Durin princes and realization dawned on him. "You were close with Fili?" he asked after awhile.

"Yes," Mei said, her voice hoarse. Although she had always been far closer with Kili, Fili had been a kind and caring friend throughout her time on this quest, and the thought of not having him around… well, the just the _thought_ caused her chest to tighten.

And the destruction that Fili's loss would cause Kili… Mei didn't want to think about that either.

"I'm sorry," Bain said, and he awkwardly reached out to pat her arm.

"You don't have to be sorry," Mei said. "It's me who should be sorry. And I am. I'm so full of grief and guilt and…" she trailed off.

"You shouldn't feel this bad, Mei," Bain said after awhile. "You're not a bad person. Good people do bad things and feel sorry for doing those things. Bad people do bad things and don't feel bad about doing them. That's the difference, Mei. And you're definitely not a bad person."

"Thank you, Bain," Mei said, turning back to him. "Now that I think about it," she said with a weak smile, wiping tears from her eyes. "I am pretty hungry."

Bain grinned and handed her the bowl of soup, his hands lingering in hers a few seconds after he had placed the bowl in her palms.

* * *

"We paid you for _weapons_!" Thorin screamed, throwing the meat cleaver that Bard had given him on the table in fury.

Bard sighed, watching as the rest of the dwarves did the same with the other makeshift weapons that Bard had given them. Part of the money that they had paid Bard had gone towards weapons, and now that Bard had actually presented them with the blacksmith's hammers, the fishing poles and the rusty lances, the dwarves were outraged.

"You won't find anything better outside of the armory," he said. When he saw the glint in Thorin's eye, he quickly added, "And there's no chance you're breaking in."

Thorin continued to glare at Bard. "Who's going to stop us?" he asked.

Mei bit her lip and watched as Bard and Thorin stared each other down.

"You'll be thrown in jail before you even reach the armory," Bard argued, never breaking the intense eye-contact between him and the dwarf king.

Thorin said nothing, and just looked towards Balin. Balin shrugged and then nodded, and Thorin turned away from Bard. "To the armory!" he bellowed.

* * *

"Thorin," Mei panted, running to keep up with the dwarves. They had been dashing through Laketown's complicated, intertwining series of wooden bridges, precarious bridges, and rickety stairs for several minutes now, and Mei could already feel a stitch in her side. Even all of the running during this quest hadn't done much to increase her endurance. "I really don't think this is a good idea."

Thorin ignored her and just kept running, at an unbelievably fast pace.

Coughing from the exertion that this run was causing her, Mei paused to look behind her. Most of the company was a few paces behind her, and they all seemed occupied with helping Fili walk properly. The poor dwarf was teetering and almost toppled over at every step. But his brother, Bofur, and Oin were holding his arms, helping him along.

Mei strode on, her pace considerably slower. She noticed several of the Laketown residents opening their windows in the rickety houses above them to watch the strange procession make its way to the armory. Mei just hoped that they wouldn't go blabbing to the Master about them. She had known this was a stupid idea, to go barging into the armory, but Thorin hadn't listened to her.

When they reached the tall, wooden tower that was the town's armory, Thorin ordered for some of the dwarves to form a sort of staircase with their bodies so that the rest of them could climb into the tower.

Bombur, Bifur, Oin, Gloin, Nori and Ori made the human (or dwarvish, perhaps) ladder up to the tower, and the rest of them clambered awkwardly up the tangle of limbs and squishy stomachs into the open armory window.

The armory was a musty, dank place, and Mei could tell that it hadn't been used in awhile. The few weapons that were there were dusty and old, and seemed nothing like the magnificent swords she remembered seeing in _The Hobbit_. Slightly disappointed, she turned back to Thorin, who was directing the dwarves to different armor or sword racks, telling them which pieces to take.

"Bofur, Balin," he whispered, careful not to raise his voice. "Grab those helmets over there."

Bofur and Balin headed off into the room where the armor was kept, and Mei could hear the soft rattling and clanging of metal against metal as they decided which helmets to take.

"Thorin," Mei said again, this time more insistently. "I really think we should-"

Thorin held up a hand to dismiss her, and turned to Dori. "Find some axes and put them over here," he pointed to a bare patch of floor a few feet away.

"The Master knows we're here," Mei said desperately. "This isn't safe, Thorin!"

"Mei," Thorin said impatiently. "We need weapons, alright?"

Mei sighed. Obviously, reasoning with this thick-headed, stubborn dwarf wasn't going to do any good. "Fine," she huffed, and went off to find herself a sword. If Thorin wasn't going to listen to her warnings, she might as well get something out of this whole weapon-stealing excursion.

Striding over to the sword rack, she examined the various dusty sheaths. None of them looked particularly promising, but she reached for one with a royal blue sheath and a silver hilt.

"I'd pick the other one if I were you."

Mei whirled around to find Kili standing there, his head tilted towards one of the other swords, the one with the gold hilt.

"It'll be faster, judging by the thinness of the handle," Kili said, walking over to stand next to her. Picking up the sword from the rack, he added, "And if you ever want to sell it," he tapped the gold hilt. "You'll make some more money."

"I-I…" Mei stammered, shocked by Kili's sudden change in character.

The dark-haired dwarf held out the sword to her, his eyes studying her carefully. "I'm sorry for the way I've acted," he said, his head bowed slightly in shame. "And I'm sorry for what I've said to you. I haven't been fair to you, and that was wrong of me. I understand if you won't forgive me, but I just needed to apologize."

They stood in silence for a moment, Mei's mind a blur of confusion and surprise and conflicting thoughts. After awhile, she said, "I think we've both done things that we regret, Kili. And if you'll forgive me for what I've done, I'll gladly forgive you as well."

Kili gave her a small smile. "I really am sorry, Mei," he said. "Saying those things to you…" he trailed off. "Saying those things to you was the worst choice I ever made. I've regretted it ever since."

"It's alright, Kili," she said, returning his smile. "I understand why you were angry with me-after all, part of the reason why your brother is hurt is because he sacrificed himself for my safety. It's only natural that you'd be upset with me."

"But I shouldn't have taken my worry out on you," Kili said, and he sounded truly agonized. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to make it up to you, or to myself."

"And I should have been quicker to react when I saw that arrow coming towards me," Mei said, stepping closer to him and grasping the sword that he held out to her. "I should have just dodged it, or deflected it with something, or even just let it hit me. Fili shouldn't have had to jump in front of me."

The two of them stood like that for a moment, both of their hands clasping the golden-hilted sword sheathed in dusty red silk.

But a cry of pain and shock from across the armory jolted their attention away from each other and towards the crumpled form of Fili, who had been standing by a set of armor. When he fell, Fili dropped the handful of swords he had been carrying, the blades clattering to the floor with a series of _clang! clank! cling!_ Noises.

The dwarves stood in silence, watching the scene unfold, their mouths agape. They really were in trouble now.

Almost immediately, they heard pounding footsteps below them. Guards.

Kili grabbed the silver-hilted sword that Mei had discarded and rushed to his brother, helping the grimacing Fili to his feet.

The other dwarves snatched up weapons and ran to the doorway from which the footsteps were coming. They glanced at Fili with an expression of betrayal and worry, their conflicted eyes scanning the dwarf's freshly bloodied wounds with concern.

Mei readjusted her grip on the golden sword with a gulp. She wasn't sure she was ready for another fight, especially not right after the incident with the goblins and the barrels.

* * *

~ From the Master's POV ~

"Sir! Sir!"

The Master grumbled, his annoyance unmistakable. "What could you possibly be wanting at this hour?" he groaned, turning around in his chair. It was late in the evening, and he had been settling down for a rather large glass of brandy, paired with a delectable meal of seasoned meat and buttered bread, a dinner that he sure as hell wasn't going to miss.

"The guards have reported a break-in!" Alfrid, his doting advisor sneered. He sounded all too happy at the prospect of such a crime. "The culprits have been caught and are waiting for you in the town square!"

"A break-in?" the Master sat up straight, suddenly intrigued.

"Yes, sire," Alfrid said, grinning toothily. "And there are crowds of people in the streets as well, come to see you deal with these… _criminals_."

"An audience?" the Master stood up, his bulky frame nearly knocking over a table in the process. "Then we'll give them a spectacle!"

"My thoughts exactly, sire," Alfrid said, peering out the window. The Master joined him, and saw a crowd of chanting, muddy commoners surrounding a group of a dozen or so figures, who seemed to be rather short, and quite ignorant of the riotous noise around them.

* * *

Mei watched as the fat, mustached Master threw open the front doors of the city hall and strode dramatically onto the front steps. "What is the meaning of this?" the Master boomed, taking in the crowd of peasants and the small gathering of dwarves.

"We found them stealing weapons from the armory, sire," one of the guards said.

"Enemies of the state, eh?" the Master raised an eyebrow at the dwarves.

Alfrid looked disgustedly at the company. "A bunch of mercenaries if ever there was, sire," he spat.

"Watch your tongue," Dwalin spoke out, stepping from the company to face Alfrid.

"Excuse me?" Alfrid sneered, cocking his head.

"You do not know to whom you speak," Dwalin continued, glaring at the sniveling, greasy-haired advisor with disdain. "This is no common criminal! This is Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror!"

The chanting of the crowds around them stopped, and Mei watched as the faces of both the townspeople around them and the Master and his advisor changed from angry to hopeful.

Dwalin gestured to Thorin, who had previously been standing at the back of the group. He stepped forward now, gazing up at the Master. "We are the dwarves of Erebor," Thorin said. "We have come to reclaim our homeland."

The crowd began emitting hushed whispers and excited squeals. The prophecy, Mei knew, had predicted the coming of the "king of carven stone," the one who would take back the Lonely Mountain.

"I remember this city in the great days of old," Thorin shouted out, and the people around them leaned in to listen. "This was no forsaken town on a lake! This city was the center of all trade in the North!"

The crowds cheered, raising their torches and their fists in agreement.

"I will see those days renewed," Thorin said. "I will send the riches from the great forges of my people flowing into this city!"

Even more riotous applause.

 _No…_ Mei thought, looking around at the people. They didn't know what ruin trusting Thorin and his company would bring. Dozens of these people would die in the dragon fire, and even more of them would be injured. She couldn't let that happen.

But just as she was about to protest Thorin's words, Bard stepped out of the crowd. "Death!" he called, hushing the crowd. "That is what you will bring upon us!"

Thorin turned to look at the grim-faced man, but said nothing.

"If you awaken the beast," Bard's face grew grave. "You will destroy us all."

The mood of the crowds took a turn, and Mei saw the faces of the people change from excited to terrified in an instant. They had remembered Dale, Mei knew, and the horror of seeing hungry flames consume their homes and their people.

"You can listen to his naysayer," Thorin said, turning around in a circle so as to direct his message at all of the people. "But I promise you this: if we should succeed, _all_ will share in the wealth of my people."

More cheering. The prospect of gold and silks seemed to have rekindled the enthusiasm of the crowd.

"Wait!" Mei called, causing everyone in the square to turn to her. "You must listen to Bard," she said, hoping she didn't sound as nervous as she felt.

"Mei!" Thorin hissed, shooting her a glare. "Be quiet!"

Ignoring him, Mei went on. "The dwarves _will_ succeed," she said. "But they will bring upon you only death. The dragon Smaug will be awakened, and it will come to destroy you," she warned, remembering reading about . "And then, when all you know has been consumed by dragonfire, you will go to the mountain, to Erebor, to King Thorin's new domain, and you will beg, beg for the riches he had promised you. But he will give you none." She wasn't sure what it was that was making her betray Thorin like this, and she wasn't even sure if it was the right thing to do. But seeing the faces of all these people in the crowds around her… well, she couldn't bring herself to peace with the fact that they would all die unless she convinced them otherwise.

The dwarves looked at her, expressions of hurt and confusion on their faces.

"What are you doing?" Bofur whispered.

Only Kili and Balin seemed to understand her concern, and they gave her small nods. She had told both of them the entire story of _The Hobbit_ already, and she knew that they understood why she felt the need to prevent all of these people from dying.

Thorin shot her another deathly glare. The people had begun to doubt their initial excitement towards Thorin's words, and they were now backing up from the soon-to-be king with fearful expressions.

"Wait," the Master said, causing everyone to look towards him. He gave Thorin a broad smile. "I say unto you," he declared, waving a fat finger in the air. "Welcome!"

* * *

Music, cheers and the clatter of plates and glasses filled the sticky air of the Great Hall as the people of Laketown celebrated the arrival of Thorin Oakenshield and his company.

"The lord of silver fountains," a group of dancers sang, their faces bright with excitement. "The king of carven stone! The king beneath the mountain, shall come into his own! And the bells shall ring in gladness, at the mountain king's return!" The song stopped there, and when the singers had finished, the room applauded joyously, whether from actual enjoyment of the song or from all of the ale they had been drinking, Mei wasn't sure.

Mei knew that the ending of the song that the dancers had been singing was: _but all shall fail in sadness, and the lake will shine and burn_ , but she didn't want to be a buzzkill and destroy the mood of the party.

Once the Master had declared that the company was welcome in Laketown, a great party had commenced, with each member of Thorin's company being a guest of honor. Even though Mei didn't exactly approve of all this celebrating (it felt wrong to celebrate the fact that many of these people would mostly likely die in a few days time), but she couldn't help but get swept up in happy swing of the party. Besides it wasn't like anyone was going to listen to her warnings anyways, so she might as well have some fun.

Taking her plate of cake with her, Mei squeezed her way through the crowds of dancing, singing, laughing people to find where the rest of the company was sitting at the high table. When they saw her coming, several of them waved extravagantly and cheered, probably an effect of the beer they had been guzzling.

Although the dwarves had originally been upset with her for trying to turn the people at the town square against them a few hours ago, the good food and beer that they had been downing had helped lighten their feelings towards her.

"Enjoying the party, lass?" Bofur asked, stuffing his third piece of pork into his mouth.

"I've never been one for parties," Mei admitted, remembering how what few parties she had gone to in high school had always ended disastrously. "But I have to say, this one is pretty cool."

"And the food's not half bad," Bombur garbled through a mouthful of cake.

"Are you sure you don't want anything to drink, lassie?" Gloin asked her, holding up his mug of beer.

"I don't drink," Mei said with an awkward smile, despite the fact that she really did _want_ to drink.

"Suit yourself," Gloin shrugged, and drank deeply from his own cup.

As the dwarves continued to talk amongst themselves, Mei looked around the table, her eyes falling on Fili and Kili, who sat across from her. Fili's skin looked horrifyingly pale, but he wore a genuine smile, and his bandages were hidden by a finely embroidered jacket (one of the gifts from the Laketown residents), so it seemed as if he were getting better.

When Kili saw Mei looking at them, his eyes it up. "Want to go get a piece of that chocolate cake?" he asked Mei, nodding towards a towering, freshly iced cake that was being brought out into the center of the hall.

"Heck yes!" Mei exclaimed, grinning.

"I'll get you a slice too," Kili told his Fili, who nodded and thanked his brother.

Kili and Mei rushed to the huge cake, each one of them grabbing a metal plate bearing a slice of cake. Without waiting a moment, they dug into their pieces, hungrily gobbling the moist, rich cake.

"This is really good," Mei said, after she had swallowed her first three bites.

Kili nodded eagerly, chewing his own fourth bite. They stood in silence for a moment, just chewing and swallowing, but somehow Mei felt more happy than she had in days. After so many hours and sleepless nights of grief and guilt, it felt nice to finally have a reason to be happy.

* * *

~ From Kili's POV ~

It was nearly midnight, but Kili was far from tired. The bustle and brightness of the party was keeping him awake, and he imagined it would continue to do so for quite awhile longer.

He had been sitting with his brother, who seemed to have fallen asleep within the last few minutes. Shooting one last look at his brother's snoring face to make sure he was alright, Kili stood and strode over to the bar to get another tankard of ale. The beer here wasn't anywhere near the quality of the beer brewed by the dwarves, but any beer was good beer.

As he ordered a new mug of ale, he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Mei and Bain sitting at a table in the corner of the hall. They were laughing.

Something stabbed at Kili's heart. Jealousy? Anger? He wasn't sure what it was, but it sure as hell wasn't a good kind of stabbing. _Was_ there a "good kind of stabbing?" Kili didn't know that either. As he watched Mei and Bain continue to talk, he felt his mind go hazy and his thoughts grow more and more scattered and incoherent.

"Your ale, Master Kili."

Shaking his head to clear it, Kili turned and saw the smiling bartender holding out a metal cup of beer. Taking it and thanking the man, Kili took a deep drink from the tankard and settled down at a table not far from where Mei and Bain were sitting. He knew it was slightly stalker-ish, but he just felt the need to listen in.

"Tell me more about Earth," Bain said eagerly, and Kili could see him lean closer to Mei in his excitement. He felt the urge to slap that kid across the face and tell him to get away from Mei. But he knew that was completely irrational-after all, Bain wasn't a bad person. There was just something about the way he looked at Mei that caused Kili's heart to wrench.

"What do you want to know?" Mei asked, stuffing another piece of shortbread into her mouth.

"Everything," Bain breathed, his eyes wide with interest and curiosity. "Earth sounds so fascinating, and… it's like a place from a fairytale, except it actually exists!"

"How do you _know_ it exists?" Mei asked, laughing.

"Because you told me it did!" Bain said, confused.

"I could be lying," Mei said mischievously, cocking her head to one side.

"But I know you're not lying," Bain said, grinning. "You're always so honest Mei. That's what I like about you."

Kili's stomach churned, and he felt his world spinning. He should go over there. He should go over there right now and pull Mei away, and end this. But he couldn't. He was too afraid. He had always been too afraid.

Something in Mei's face changed when Bain said that, and Kili noticed that she inched backwards ever so slightly. "Oh," she giggled nervously, biting her lip in the way Kili knew she did when she was uncomfortable or scared.

Bain blushed, but kept going, "In fact," he said more softly, so that his voice was barely audible from where Kili sat. "There are a lot more things that I like about you Mei."

"Oh, Bain," Mei said hesitantly.

"You're brave, and smart, and funny," Bain continued, reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder. "And ever since I first met you, I've been in a entranced by you, your beauty, your kindness, your huge, compassionate heart, and I can't hold my feelings back anymore, Mei."

 _Oh damn_ , Kili thought, and was surprised to find his fist clenched.

"Bain…" Mei said again, this time more insistently. He could see something in her face, a complicated, conflicted emotion that he couldn't quite place.

And then Kili watched, horrified, as Bain leaned in closer to Mei, his face growing closer to hers by the second.

He couldn't watch. Kili turned around and got up from the table, stalking off back to where his brother and the rest of the company sat, his heart clenched tighter than his fists.

* * *

 **Wow, that chapter was a long one. :P Nearly 4,500 words. (Most of mine are only around 2,000 words, so this was a big change, haha!)**

 **Poor Kili... but don't worry, things get better for all of them. :) And Bain is such a sweetheart, no?**

 **Faves, follows and reviews are very much appreciated! 3**


	25. Chapter 25: The Resurrection

~ From Kili's POV ~

"Mind if I sit here?"

Kili looked up to see Mei standing a few feet away, pointing to the empty spot on the stone bench. He had left the loud, busy atmosphere of the party about a half an hour ago, had escaped to the town square, and had seated himself upon one of the benches that lined the square. The cool, brisk night air was helping clear his head of the muggy, stuffy air of the bar, and he had begun to feel his anger and jealousy fade away.

That was, until Mei showed up.

"Sure," he muttered, tearing his gaze away from her chocolate-brown eyes.

"Are you okay?" Mei asked, taking a seat on the bench next to him and leaning over.

"Fine," Kili huffed, still not meeting her gaze.

"Kili," Mei said warningly, sticking her head out in such a way that he was forced to look at her. "I know when you're lying."

"I'm fine," Kili snapped.

Mei nodded, her lips pressed together. "Alright," she said after awhile, the sarcasm clear in her voice. "Keep your _secrets_ , Kili."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Kili said, before he could stop himself.

"What?" Mei asked, bewildered.

"There are things you haven't been telling _me_ , aren't there, Mei?" Kili retorted, thinking back to Bain.

"Excuse me?" Mei scoffed. "What are you even talking about?"

"You know," Kili said, his voice bitter and sharp. "I thought there was something between us, Mei. I was even pretty sure that I _loved_ you. But apparently, you never felt the same."

Mei looked as though she had just been slapped. "What do you mean?" she asked, the hurt plain on her face.

"You know perfectly well what I mean," Kili grumbled.

"I'm pretty sure that I don't-" Mei began, but then a wave of realization washed over her, and Kili saw her lips part slightly to form an _O_. "You didn't see me and Bain…" she trailed off.

"I saw him kiss you," Kili said, the hoarseness and agony in his voice surprising him.

" _Kiss_ me?" Mei half-laughed, half-screeched. "Hold your horses, Mister Kili. I've never kissed anyone before."

"What?" Kili asked, turning to look at her.

"Bain _tried_ to kiss me," Mei said pointedly, "but I pulled away."

"Oh," Kili said softly, and he felt his cheeks start to flush red with embarrassment. _How wrong he had been_ … "I must have missed that part," he said, uncomfortable.

"Aww, Kili, you adorably awkward little dumpling," Mei giggled. "Trust me, there's nothing between me and Bain." Her face saddened slightly. "But I've been feeling so bad about pulling away from him like that… he really is a nice person." She gave a nervous smile. "I've never been approached like that or even _talked_ to like that by a boy before, and considering that I've had a hard enough time landing a boyfriend, it's weird that I turned down the first one who tried. Ironic, huh?" She gave a short, forced laugh.

A chilly wind swept by, and both Kili and Mei shivered from the icy blast.

"Why did you turn him down?" Kili asked.

Mei shrugged. "He'd always seemed nice, but when I saw him starting to lean forward for a kiss, I just didn't feel anything, y'know? When someone you truly love is about to kiss you for the first time, you feel sort of… electrified, and your heart starts to beat faster, and the whole world starts to disappear. But I didn't feel that with Bain."

"Have you ever felt it before?" Kili couldn't help from asking.

"Once," Mei said evasively, and blushed slightly.

"Oh?" Kili said.

A long, uncomfortable silence ensued, with only the slight whistle of the wind and the faint sounds of clinking cups and joyous song echoing from inside the bar.

* * *

"Quickly, quickly!" Thorin bellowed at the company. "The ship is leaving in just ten minutes!"

Mei groaned, sitting up from where she had fallen asleep on the floor. She and Kili had stayed up late to care for Fili (whose condition seemed to be worsening by the hour), and seemed to have both haphazardly draped themselves over two of the velvet couches in the Master's guest suite sometime during the night.

"Put these on," Bofur handed her a bag of clothing, which was presumably from the Master.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Mei stumbled behind a screen to change. She pulled the simple, sleep-worn dress that Sigrid had leant her over her head (she hoped Sigrid wouldn't miss it-they had left Bard's house without saying a proper thank-you for the service and help his family had provided them), and yanked on the new, fur-lined red dress from the Master. It had long, warm sleeves, a collar that could be turned up, and a furry hem that hit just above her knees. Adding some woolen stockings underneath, a pair of leather boots, and a matching red traveling cloak, Mei turned to look at her reflection in the floor-length mirror.

Oh, how much she had changed. Her previously smooth skin was now covered in bruises and small scrapes (and some not-so-small ones, like the scar from the wound in her stomach and shoulder). Her hair, which had always been so neat, was now, although still clean, more unruly and troublesome. Her arms were beginning to show signs of muscle, as were her legs.

Mei had changed, but she found the changes to be glorious, as they highlighted just how much this quest had altered both her physical and emotional being. She was stronger, smarter, tougher. And she was hungrier too, but that was besides the point.

"Onto the boat, all of you," Alfrid ordered, hoarding the company onto the fancy, arched boat that would bring them across the lake to the Lonely Mountain.

Just as Mei was about to board, she saw Fili, who was being helped onto the boat by Kili, stumble and fall over, landing with a wince on his injured leg.

"He cannot come with us," Thorin said flatly as he passed his nephews.

"What?" Mei and Kili exclaimed at the same time.

"He will only slow us down," Thorin added, hardly daring to look his nephews in the eye. "Fili must stay here in Laketown until he is healed.

"No," Kili shook his head furiously. "No, uncle, you can't do this."

Thorin gave Kili a significant look. "Kili," he said warningly, although his voice was soft and pleading.

"We've grown up hearing tales of Erebor," Kili protested. "And we've lived for the day when we first walk through the gates of our fathers. You can't just take that away from him, uncle."

"Kili," Fili groaned, clutching his leg. "I'll be fine."

"That is my final word," Thorin said solemnly, and beckoned Kili to follow him onto the ship. "Come, Kili. Fili can rejoin us when he is healed."

"I'm not coming with you," Kili said defiantly.

"Kili, don't be a fool," Thorin scolded.

"I'm staying with Fili," Kili snapped, and helped his brother to his feet.

"You belong with the company, Kili," Thorin reprimanded, grabbing his nephew's arm before he could walk too far away.

"I belong with my brother," Kili spat, and wrenched his arm from his uncle's grasp with considerable force.

Thorin flinched back a little when Kili broke free from his hold, and Mei saw the dwarf's eyes sadden slightly.

"I'm staying with them," Mei piped up, surprising even herself as she said so.

"No," Thorin shook his head. "Mei, you have to come with us. You're the only one who knows how to defeat the dragon."

Mei gave a shocked laugh. "Honestly, Thorin. You thought _you_ were going to be the one to kill Smaug? You and the rest of the company set the dragon loose on Laketown and Smaug burns it to ash before Bard can finally shoot it with a Black Arrow, and there's nothing _I_ can do to stop that." Her own harshness shocked her, but she was so fed up with Thorin's cruel, heartless decision-making, and his ignorance to the danger this quest would bring to the people of Laketown.

"Mei," Thorin hissed. "You must come with us."

"I'm not, Thorin," Mei said, trying to sound more confident than she felt. "I can't just leave a fellow company member behind, and I don't agree with your decision to do so. I'm sorry, but I'm not coming."

Thorin muttered something under his breath and stomped away. "Fine," he grumbled, although Mei could sense another layer of sadness underneath his anger.

"I'll stay with them," Bofur added, wincing slightly as Thorin's furious gaze whipped up to meet his own eyes.

"Is _anyone_ actually going to help reclaim Erebor?" Thorin cried, looking around at the remaining members of his company.

The rest of the company, Mei knew, would stay with Thorin, but she saw flashes of doubt and conflict on their faces. They didn't agree with Thorin's choice to leave Fili behind, she noticed, but they would rather die than abandon their beloved leader.

Before anyone else could speak, a horn blew and the ship began to leave the dock, the rest of the company exiting the harbor with it. Mei waved to her friends as they left, a few tears welling up in her eyes. But she quickly blinked them away and turn back to Fili, Kili and Bofur, who were watching the precession leave with the same expressions of fear on their faces, fear for both themselves (they were all alone in Laketown now, after all), and for their friends, who would soon face down a deadly, fire-breathing dragon.

For all they knew, this could be the last time they ever saw their friends again.

* * *

~ From Kili's POV ~

"It's alright," Kili said, watching apprehensively as Fili tensed and beads of sweat began to form on his brother' forehead. It was late at night, and everyone else had already gone to sleep. All except for Kili, who had demanded that he stay awake to tend to his brother.

They had run straight to Bard's house after the company had left on the ship, and had been greeted by the sour, stern face of Bard.

"I've had enough of dwarves for one lifetime," he growled, trying to shut the door on them. "Get lost."

"No, no!" they had all cried out, straining to keep the door open. "It's Fili," Kili had said, pointing to his wounded brother.

"He's sick," Bofur had added, grimacing with concern as Fili moaned in pain. "Very sick."

Bard had reluctantly let them in (the man had a good heart, Kili had come to realize), and had helped heave Fili onto one of the tables. He had left them alone after that, but had provided all of the necessary herbs and tools that they needed to try and heal Fili's wounds. Nothing they tried had worked, however, and Kili was beginning to feel doubt and fear blossom in his chest at the sight of his brother's worsening wounds.

"Kili," Fili groaned now, the white cotton of his bandages turning a dark crimson. "You need to get some sleep."

"And _you_ need to get better," Kili said, trying to hide the fear, the utter, pure terror in his voice. If he lost his brother… the prospect of a world without Fili had always seemed as impossible as a world without the Sun, or a world without the sky. And now…

"Kili," Fili said again, this time more insistently. His eyes were huge and pleading. "I can feel my body getting weaker. I can feel myself fading away."

"No," Kili said, shaking his head so quickly, he wondered if it might snap off. Tears welled in his eyes. "No, Fili, you're not going anywhere. You're staying right here, and I'm going to save you."

"I love you, brother," Fili said, his own eyes glistening with wetness. "I always have, and I always will."

"Fili," Kili said, his eyes widening. "No, don't leave me! Please, Fili!"

Fili's eyelids began to sag, and then his hand became slowly more limp in Kili's own.

"No…" Kili breathed, his voice cracking at the edges with despair and grief and shock. "No, no…" He grabbed Fili's lifeless hand and shook it, desperate, desperate to shake life back into his brother, or to wish for him to be alright so much that it actually became true. He would have done anything to save Fili. Anything, from burning to drowning, from torture to death, Kili would have done it all. He would have experienced all of the pain in the world, he would have allowed for every last drop of despair and hatred and agony to be poured into his soul, and he would have endured it, all for Fili.

And now he was dead.

Kili wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. He wanted to kill every last orc he ever saw. He wanted to track down the two archers who shot his brother and stab them through with his brother's sword and watch the light leave their wicked eyes. He wanted to…

Kili didn't even know what to do now. Without Fili, it felt as though an entire half of him were missing, as though someone had simply chopped both his legs off and expected him to walk. He just couldn't be happy, he couldn't ever laugh again, he couldn't _live_ without Fili.

Then, all of a sudden, pounding footsteps from the roof above. Dust from the rickety rafter floated down in misty clouds from the impacts.

Hastily wiping his tears away, Kili instinctively grabbed his sword. Glancing nervously at the door, he watched as a form heaved itself against the wooden door from the other side. Someone was trying to break in.

Kili gave his blade a few practice swings, and found that his aim and grip on the sword had been completely destroyed by the terrible grief that was his brother's death. His mind was foggy with despair and sadness as well, and he wondered if he would even be able to fight like this. If he would be able to fight with the dead body of his brother only a few feet away.

But when the door did finally break down and a sniveling orc stomped through the doorframe, something inside of Kili flickered. An anger, an intense fury, and a greedy thirst for revenge filled his bones, his blood, his very soul, and he charged at the orc, releasing a cry of agony and sorrow and pure, pure hatred.

When Mei heard Kili's battle cry, she sat up straight in the bed she had been sharing with Sigrid. Looking over, she saw that Sigrid had heard it too.

Both of them jumped out of bed, pulled on their slippers, and dashed to the kitchen to see what was wrong. Mei's heart was pounding so loudly that she thought it might burst. _What if Kili was hurt?_

When they reached the kitchen, she saw that Kili's sword was buried deep in a goblin's chest, and that more goblins were pouring in through the broken-down front door. Two dead goblins laid on the ground at Kili's feet, blood leaking from Kili's perfectly aimed sword strokes.

Then Mei noticed the motionless body of Fili on the table behind Kili. _No…_ her mind raced, and she hurried over to Fili, felt his clammy, lifeless hands, and let out a sob. Fili couldn't be dead… he couldn't be. She looked desperately at his two wounds, dark and bloody they were, and at least a hundred times worse than they had been a few days ago.

A new fury kindling inside of her, Mei grabbed one of Kili's daggers from the chair he had been sitting on, and whirled around, only to find a goblin standing right behind her. But she wasn't afraid, she was only filled with anger, and a terrible, terrible thirst for revenge. She plunged the dagger into the goblin's side, it's cries of pain and shock echoing throughout Bard's cramped home.

By this point, Bard, Bain and Tilda had come rushing out of their bedrooms to find the source of the loud crashing, screaming and slamming coming from their kitchen. When little Tilda saw the orcs and the bloodied floorboards, she shrieked and dove for her sister, who had been hiding in the corner of the kitchen. Bain grabbed a metal ladle, and Bard snatched up a frying pan, and the two of them joined Mei and Kili in fighting off the orcs.

But the orcs kept coming, more and more of them scuttling in through the front door. Mei knew they couldn't hold much longer. Besides, being the non-skilled fighter that she was, she had already earned herself a few more scratches and cuts.

And then Legolas and Tauriel got on the scene.

First, Mei saw a familiar flash of bright red hair, and then the tell-tale sound of a perfectly crafted Elvish arrow finding its mark. Her heart leapt, and when she looked towards the doorway, instead of more orcs, two tall, armor-clad elves leapt through, hardly missing a beat before continuing their slaughter of the orcs.

Mei stood back and let the two elves do their work, but Kili and Bard kept fighting alongside the elves, using their makeshift weapons so viciously that the frying pans and metal pots that they used might as well have been golden, jewel-encrusted swords.

When the dead bodies of the orcs lay in bloody heaps on the floor, everyone took a moment to survey the wrecked room, the two elves looking suspiciously at the dwarves and Bard's family.

"Come, Tauriel," Legolas said at last, tearing his gaze away from Kili, who looked so much like Thorin in this grim lighting. "Bolg is not far off. If we hurry, we can catch up with him."

Tauriel began to nod, but then let out a pained, shocked gasp. She rushed over to Fili's body and took his pulse, her face paling when she found none. "No," she said hoarsely, her reaction mirroring that of Kili and Mei.

"Tauriel," Legolas said, more insistently. "We must hurry."

Tauriel ignored the blonde-haired elf and continued to examine Fili's wounds, her eyes welling with huge, shining tears. "Fili," she whispered, squeezing his limp hand.

"I'll go scout ahead," Legolas said, his voice scratchy. Mei could see that seeing Tauriel's love for Fili was just too much for him to bear. He secretly loved Tauriel, and hated Fili for taking her away from him.

As Legolas left, Mei turned her attention back to Tauriel, who was now full-on crying, kneeling next to the body of Fili and sobbing.

Kili, Mei could see, was just as distraught. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling right now… her own grief was bad enough. Biting back her tears, Mei watched Tauriel and Kili, her heart shattering as she saw them cry.

Tauriel began to murmur something, her words sounding like part of a chant or a spell. Then it hit Mei-hadn't Kili, who had originally been destined to get pierced by the orc's arrow, been healed by Tauriel's magic? Perhaps the red-haired elf could do the same now. Amongst the sobs, Mei could make out the sounds of Elvish words being sung out in Tauriel's smooth, enchanting voice.

Kili began to say the words to his own prayer, the Dwarvish words and the Elvish ones harmonizing beautifully into one, merged spell. Mei listened as Kili and Tauriel's agonized, desperate voices, full of love for Fili, rang out in the room, the two people who loved him most in the world joining together.

A twitch of his eyelids. A slight flick of his fingers. Fili's chest began to move, slowly, carefully, as he exhaled a breath. Mei saw his wounds begin to close, the skin around them cleaning itself of all it's blood and grime and raw skin. She wanted to cry out in shock and happiness and joy as she saw the blonde dwarf cough and begin to sit up.

Tauriel shrieked and Kili gave an amazed, disbelieving laugh as they watched Fili heave himself, wincing, into a sitting position.

"You're alive!" Tauriel exclaimed, squeezing his now life-filled hand with glee.

"You have _got_ to stop doing that!" Kili jokingly scolded his brother, wiping tears of happiness from his face.

"Doing what?" Fili asked, looking at and stretching his fingers, as if amazed even by himself that he was alive.

"Tricking us into believing that you're dead," Kili laughed, and hugged his brother tight.

Bofur entered the room now, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Whaddeyemiss?" he mumbled sleepily.

"You really slept through all that?" Mei cried incredulously.

"Slept through wha-" Bofur began, and then he saw Fili, who was grinning joyfully at the mustached dwarf. "Oh, Fili! You're alright!"

* * *

 **Aww, such an emotional chapter for me to write. *dabs at eye with tissue* I tried to expand more on the whole "brotherly love" relationship between Fili and Kili, because I found it to be such an interesting one. Kili's pain and fear at seeing his brother in such a state was, although just as painful a sad to write, a really unique experience.**

 **I also tried to incorporate some of the Harry Potter themes into this chapter. You know how Lilly Potter saved Harry from Lord Voldemort because of her "old magic," her _love_ for Harry? The reason why Tauriel and Kili were able to save Fili from basically being already dead was because they both loved him so much, and the combined forces of their magic and grief was enough to save Fili's life. Cheesy, I know, but how can I resist? :P Also, I just loved the idea of an elf and a dwarf joining and working together to save someone that they both cared about.**

 **Oh, and can anyone guess when that "once" Mei was talking about early on in the chapter actually happened? ;) *cough cough, check out Chapter 16***

 **And of course, Bofur being adorably oblivious. :P**

 **Reviews, favorites and follows all mean so much to me! I can't believe that 54 of you (as of today) have made the conscious decision to follow this story! I love each and every person who has ever read a chapter (or even a sentence!) of this story, and I am eternally grateful for all of your support! 3**


	26. Chapter 26: The Burning Love

It was just barely nighttime when the first cries of "Dragon!" echoed throughout the village. Mei, Kili and Tauriel had been tending to Fili's now nearly healed wounds when they heard the shouts.

Kili looked at Mei, his eyes wide with fear and shock. She had been right-the rest of the company had awakened the dragon.

And now it was coming to kill them all.

Mei ran to the kitchen to get the alert Bard and his family of the coming dangers. But they seemed to have already heard the cries. Looking out the window, they saw a massive, winged shadow heading towards the town, it's belly bright as it prepared its first gust of flame.

"We need to get out of here," Mei told Bard, who nodded gravely.

"Bain," Bard turned to his son. "Lead your sisters and the dwarves out of here safely," his face darkened.

"What about you?" Bain's face scrunched up with worry.

"I have some unfinished business to attend to," Bard said evasively, and Mei saw him glance towards his bow and quiver full of arrows.

"You'll need a Black Arrow if you're looking to kill the beast," Mei told him before he could grab his longbow.

"A Black Arrow?" Bard blinked. "Where am I going to get one of those?"

"You don't have one?" Mei gaped. In the books, Bard had already been in possession of a Black Arrow, the only weapon strong enough to kill Smaug.

"Do I _look_ like I have a bloody _Black Arrow_ lying around in my house?" Bard exclaimed.

"Damnit…" Mei turned slowly in a circle, trying to think of a plan.

"Wait," Bain said, causing them all to whirl and look at him.

"What?" Bard and Mei asked at the same time.

"There's a box of old artifacts in the attic," Bain said. "I think they may have been passed down from Gideon," he looked towards his father.

"Let's go check it out," Mei said, and started for the attic stairs.

"Wait," Bain held out an arm to stop her. "You need to get out of here, Mei. Now." She could see a genuine concern in his eyes. Ever since she had pulled away from his kiss that night at the party, they hadn't spoken much, and what little interaction they had was awkward and evasive. But the way he looked at her now, his face full of worry and a need for her to make it out of the town safely, Mei couldn't help but hug him.

"Thank you, Bain," she said, squeezing him tightly. "For everything."

Bain blushed when she finally let him go, and gave her a tight-lipped nod. "Now, get out of here," he whispered to her, nodding towards the door. "Make sure to keep my sisters safe," he added, pushing Sigrid and Tilda towards her.

Mei watched as Bard and Bain hurried up the attic stairs. If those two didn't find a freaking Black Arrow somewhere in that attic, the entirety of Middle Earth was screwed.

Ripping her eyes away from the two men, she grabbed the hands of Sigrid and Tilda and ran back to where Tauriel, Fili and Kili were waiting. Their own faces were pale with terror, and Mei could see through the parlor window that some building on the far side of Laketown were already engulfed in flame. Swallowing her fear, Mei herded them all out of the house.

Outside, the screams and shouts were even more ghastly, and Mei could see that utter chaos was breaking out. Frantic, desperate people were running around the wooden planks that connected their houses, looking around for a way out of the town. Mei's heart broke as she watched some people dive into the water to escape the fire, an action that would probably lead to their deaths. Most of the people in Laketown didn't know how to swim (despite the fact that the town was built on a lake), and she knew that they would either have to face the deadly fire of Smaug, or drown in the water beneath their own, burning homes.

The fire was spreading now, and several times, as Mei, Kili and Tauriel struggled to find Bard's boat and haul it out from underneath his house, the great, massive shadow of Smaug flew over them, light emanating from his fire-filled belly.

Once they had successfully pulled the boat out, Mei hurriedly helped a crying Sigrid and Tilda onto it, along with Fili, who was arm in arm with Tauriel.

"What about Papa?" Tilda asked, her face ruddy with tears and grimy from the ash.

Mei looked up towards the house. But as she did so, Smaug breathed a huge, fiery breath, and all of the buildings around them burst into flame, even the bottom half of Bard's house. There wasn't any time left to wait for Bain and Bard. They needed to leave.

"We can't wait for them," Mei said, her voice cracking in despair as she did so. "We have to get out of here."

Sigrid and Tilda burst into tears, Tauriel's efforts to soothe the two girls doing nothing to console them. "Papa…" Tilda wailed.

Mei watched the two of them, and felt her chest tighten. This was wrong. Everything about this was so, so wrong. Nobody should have ever had to die. Mei gave one last, desperate look towards the house, searching the flaming rubble for the body of Bard or Bain to come emerging from the fire. But nobody came.

Turning back towards the boat, she found Kili standing in front of her. And in that moment, that moment of utter despair and terror, they looked at one another and saw only an intense, unfailing love for the other. Mei looked into Kili's dark eyes and saw, all at once, just how much she loved the dwarf. His kind heart, his awkward moments, his sense of humor, his unrelenting bravery…

And then they were kissing. A kiss full of all the longing and love and desire that they had been holding back for so long came rushing out of them into a passionate storm of affection. Their love for each other burned brighter than the crackling flames around them, and Mei knew at that moment that even if they died tonight, even if the fire consumed them, they would have died knowing that they had found their true love.

* * *

~ From Bain's POV ~

"It's not here, Da!"

Bain and his father had been feverishly digging through the boxes of old heirlooms and artifacts nestled in the dusty corners of their attic for what seemed like ages now, and they still hadn't found a Black Arrow.

"No," his father threw open one of the last, unsearched wooden chests and rifled through the contents anxiously, a look of mad desperation in his eyes.

Through the porthole in the attic, Bain could see only a cloud of smoke, through which magnificent red-orange flames blazed.

They truly were going to die up here, Bain thought silently, his shuddering heart beating faster and faster inside his chest.

* * *

Mei watched, terrified as more burning, flaming debris fell onto the wooden walkways throughout Laketown, cutting off transportation for the many, frightened villagers.

"Please!"

Mei, Tauriel and Kili turned around to see a middle-aged woman and her baby holding onto their boat with her burned hands. She was waist-deep in the water, and Mei could see that it was only their boat that was allowing her to stay afloat.

"Can you spare room for one more?" she begged, tears streaming freely down her muddied face.

"We can't," Tauriel said firmly.

"What?" Mei asked, incredulous. "Of course we can."

"No," Tauriel shook her head, and then nodded towards a spot where water was leaking through the side of their boat. "We're already overloading this small rowboat-one more person would cause it to sink almost definitely."

"No," Mei looked back at the frightened, crying woman, and saw in her only a mad desperation to keep her child safe. "No, this isn't right."

"I'm sorry," Tauriel said, and an anguished tear fell down her cheek.

But just then, a wooden doorway caught ablaze flew into the lake at an alarming speed, hitting the woman square in the back. She screamed, falling into the water, her clothes burning.

Mei gasped and turned away from the horrifying sight. _I should have let her take my place_ , she thought. That woman… and her child… dead.

* * *

 **Aww, this chapter was a short one, but I tried to make it emotional. Finally, Mei and Kili kissed, right? :P**

 **Also, I tried to incorporate some of the intense fear and desperation that was present during the burning of Laketown, because I think it was such an interesting and horrifying prospect.**

 **Reviews, favorites and follows are so appreciated! ^.^**


	27. Chapter 27: The Dragon Falls

Still shuddering, Mei tried not to look at the utter destruction around her. There was too much death, too much horror, and too much pain in this town. Fire blazed around their boat, and more and more people called out to them desperately, begging them to let them ride to safety on their boat. It wrenched Mei's heart and her very soul to ignore their pleas and stare blankly ahead, trying to block out the terrifying sounds around them. Screams and crackling of fire and sobs rang out across the once-peaceful village, echoing throughout the burning wooden homes and sidewalks.

At that moment, Mei hated Thorin and his company. She hated this quest. She hated how she had done so little to stop this destruction.

 _Curse you, Thorin_ , she thought furiously to herself. _Curse you and your stubborn selfishness._

* * *

~ From Kili's POV ~

Kili watched as Mei cried, his own heart breaking a little to see her in such pain. He wished there was something he could do, something to ease her despair.

But there was nothing he could do. This burning town reeked of despair and terror and wrongness, and there was nothing he could do to help. All of these people would die, and he was powerless to do anything.

Suddenly, a loud clanging echoed across the lake, and Kili looked up to see two figures standing atop the half-burned bell tower. One of them held a huge, pointed arrow, and the other held a longbow. The bell rang, it's sounds luring the massive dragon towards it. Kili watched as Smaug grew closer and closer to the tower, his great red eyes zeroing in on the two figures.

Mei, Kili could see, was watching the two figures as well. "That's Bard and Bain!" she gasped, and he could see a mixture of relief and terror in her eyes. "They must have found the Black Arrow!"

They watched, open-mouthed, hardly daring to hope, as the taller of the two figures took the arrow from the other, placing it gingerly into his bow.

"Who are you to challenge me?" Smaug roared at Bard, his underbelly glowing red-hot with the heat of an upcoming fiery breath.

Bard pulled back his bowstring, aiming his arrow carefully at a point on the dragon's flank. _May your aim be true, my friend_ , Kili prayed silently, watching in apprehension as the bowman pulled the bowstring back tighter and tighter.

 _Whoosh!_

The sound of the arrow being released echoed across the town, causing people around them to look up at the tower, a new hope shining in their eyes. The entirety of Laketown watched in excitement as the arrow flew towards its mark, all of them holding their breath.

* * *

~ From Thorin's POV ~

"The dragon!"

Thorin whirled, turning to look at the astonished hobbit. Beyond the curly-haired figure, he could see the blaze of a burning town across the like.

 _But all shall fail in sadness, and the lake shall shine and burn._

"I saw it fall!" Bilbo exclaimed again, causing all of the dwarves to gape at him. "Smaug fell into the lake!"

"Bless my beard," Balin breathed, gazing at the dark, rippling waters from where they all stood at the entrance to the mountain. "Smaug is dead!"

A chorus of cheers echoed throughout the barren landscape around them.

"Soon every soul in Middle-Earth will know," Balin said joyously. "The dragon is dead!"

 _Indeed_ , Thorin thought to himself. _And they will come, with great weapons and armies and greed, and they will try to take Erebor from us._

 _But they will not succeed_.

"Back into the mountain!" Thorin bellowed. "We need to find the Arkenstone."

* * *

"Thorin?" Mei called, her voice cracking with worry.

They had left Laketown as soon as the morning had arrived, and, much to Fili's sorrow, had left Tauriel behind. Legolas had come to give her a message, and Mei had insisted that they leave before noon so as to reach the mountain as soon as they could.

"I don't hear anything," Fili said, sounding equally concerned. "Where are they?"

"You don't think…" Kili trailed off, gulping as he stole a glance at the skeletons of past dwarves that had been incinerated by Smaug's fiery breath.

"No," Mei said, more sharply than she had intended. "They're in here somewhere."

The two Durin brothers nodded solemnly, but Mei could tell that neither one of them believed her.

And then… a soft pitter-pattering of feet not far off.

"I hear something!" Mei shrieked, running towards the sound, Fili and Kili close behind her.

"Mei! Kili! Fili!" a familiar voice called out. As the three of them rounded a bend in the stone corridors, they nearly collided with the company's hobbit.

"Bilbo!" Mei cried happily, engulfing the burglar in a bear hug. "It's so good to see you!"

Bilbo awkwardly returned her embrace with a soft pat. "I'm glad to see that you're all alive and safe," he said grimly, pulling away. "When we saw Smaug burn the village…" he trailed off, tears clouding his eyes.

Mei's brows furrowed. " _We_? Where is the rest of the company?"

Bilbo gulped, holding up his hands. "Now," he began. "I need you all to listen to-"

"Oi!" Fili exclaimed, rushing past the stammering hobbit. "I see movement!"

"Fili-" Bilbo winced, letting loose a great sigh as Kili and Mei raced after him.

* * *

 **I know this is a short chapter, but I wanted to get a chapter up ASAP after such a long hiatus. Sorry-it seems as if homework and school and finals have taken over my life recently. Since I am currently writing 3 in-progress stories (including this one), so check out my profile to view the other 2. I'll be updating them in somewhat of a rotating cycle.**

 **Thank you for reading! All reviews, favorites and follows are greatly appreciated! :)**


	28. Chapter 28: The Arkenstone Is Lost

The halls of Erebor were beyond magnificent. Besides the astounding architecture, the hall was absolutely piled with glittering gold. Gold coins, gold goblets, gold plates... Even some other rarities, like huge rubies the size of one's head or gigantic piles of shimmering diamonds were scattered throughout the oceans of gold.

The sight made Mei's fangirl heart quiver with excitement.

"Oh my God," she breathed, resisting the urge to scream. "This is so freaking cool."

Beside her, Kili, Fili and Bofur all mirrored her look of astoundment. And on her other side, Bilbo let loose another huge sigh.

"You must listen-" he said, only to be interrupted again. Thorin emerged from behind one of the massive columns situated at the center of the hall, clad in kingly robes and bearing a golden crown. Although he looked more put-together than Mei had ever seen him, something seemed off about the way he looked distantly at his nephews, and the way he clutched his new golden sword as if it carried the weight of his life.

"Welcome," he said, raising his arms in welcome. A ghost of a smile graced his lips. "My sister's sons. To Erebor." He grabbed one of the rubies from a gold pile next to him, and tossed it up to Fili. The bewildered dwarf caught it, staggering backwards a little from the sheer weight of the huge gem. He examined it's changing, magical colors, an amazed breath escaping his gaping mouth.

Bilbo tugged at her sleeve. "Mei," he whispered. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," Mei replied, although somewhat reluctantly. The shifting, entrancing colors of the ruby lured her towards it, urging her to look at it's magnificence for one more second, just one more second.

Bilbo pulled her away and into a dark corner of the Hall. When he caught her looking away at the sea of gold around them, he waved his hand in front of her face to focus her again. "Mei," he said again, looking into her eyes with a gaze that bore only concern and worry. "Thorin's had us all looking for the Arkenstone. He hasn't let anyone rest, and tells us that until it is found, we must keep looking, endlessly, never to stop." Now that Mei looked at the hobbit, she could see dark bags under his usually lively eyes, and a slight droop to his skin that she had never seen before. She remembered how Thorin had become stricken with dragon sickness, an obsession with gold, and an ignorance for other things, like the well-being of his friends and allies in the Hobbit.

And she remembered how Bilbo had stolen the Arkenstone during his first encounter with Smaug.

"You…" she trailed off, scanning the hobbit's many pockets for the telling bulge of the stone. "You have the Arkenstone, don't you?"

Bilbo paled. "That's the thing," he said. "I know you told me that in the books you read, I found the Arkenstone when I first met Smaug. But that never happened, Mei! I don't have it. Which means that it's somewhere in this Hall." He looked up at her, his eyes full of worry. "Is that bad?"

"Bilbo," Mei said, her voice tense. "We _need_ to find that stone before Thorin does, alright? If he finds it," she sucked in a breath, "It'll destroy him."

"Right," Bilbo said slowly, gulping. "Find the stone or else Thorin will be destroyed. Got it."

"Sorry," Mei apologized. "I probably worded that wrong." She bit her lip. "But seriously. We _have_ to find that stone, Bilbo. And quickly."

* * *

They had been searching for hours, sifting through hundreds upon hundreds of golden coins, looking for one, specific, special stone.

But nobody could find it.

Even Thorin, who tirelessly tunneled through the great mountains of gold, was coming up empty.

 _Where is the Arkenstone?_ Mei thought, looking impatiently around the Hall. The Hall was enormous, but they had searched the entire thing already. Twice.

She spun in place, trying desperately to seek out the glow of the Arkenstone amongst the piles of gold. But there was nothing, only the glimmer of gems and jewels that were not the Arkenstone.

But as she turned, her eyes fell upon a strange imprint in the wall behind her.

Not an imprint, but a door. It was cleverly camouflaged in the wall, and had a stone handle to match the rest of the door. Someone had obviously taken great care while constructing the door so as to conceal it from one's first sweeping glance at the room.

Peering around to make sure nobody was watching her, she carefully crept over to the door. She placed a hand upon the handle, turning it slowly so as not to magnify the slight squeaking sound that it made when it rotated.

Mei took one last look at the preoccupied dwarves around her, and, once she had ensured that none of them had noticed her new discovery, slipped into the room beyond the stone door.

The room was dark, so dark, in fact, that Mei couldn't see her own hand when she waved it in front of her face. Cautiously, she pulled out the oil lamp that she had brought with her when she was searching the Hall for the stone, and lit it with one of the matches in her pocket.

Instantly, the room was illuminated by the lamp's weak, flickering glow. It was a small chamber, Mei noticed, square, with only about ten feet of length on either side. Bookshelves lined the left and right walls, and there was a desk directly across the room.

Mei tiptoed across to the desk, noticing a book placed haphazardly on one of the corners. She picked it up, dusting the layer of dirt and dust off of the leather cover. The book appeared to be a diary of sorts, with no official title or inscription on the spine. She opened up the book to the first page, only to find that someone had written something on the first page:

 _Balin, son of Fundin, direct descendant of the line of Durin, and member of the royal court, advisor to King Thror and his son, Prince Thrain._

 _Balin?_ Mei was utterly confused. What did Balin have anything to do with this? She flipped past the page, finding herself faced with several pages of neat, precise writing.

 _The Arkenstone is a beautiful, but dangerous object. King Thror seems entirely transfixed by its magnificent shifting colors, and will spend hours staring at it, his eyes like that of a madman. Something evil lives within that stone, the kind of something that drives someone mad._

 _The stone is an heirloom to our people, representing Thror's right to the throne. But I cannot help but want to rid the King of this wretched object. He obsesses over it, and it gives him both greed and cruelty that he did not possess before. He has changed, and not for the better._

 _No one else seems to share my opinions. They all love the stone, and worship it and admire it as much as the King. But there is something wrong here, and I must act, before this sickness, whatever it may be, consumes the King, and consumes us all._

Mei blinked, rereading the last couple of lines. "Balin was involved in this?" she said aloud, surprised. _This wasn't in the books_ , she thought to herself, eagerly reading on. There was a new entry, now, one that seemed to have been written at a later date.

 _I have stolen the Arkenstone. I know it is wrong of me, but I feel as though it would be even more wrong to let it remain in the obsessive hands of the King. T_

 _When he was asleep one night, I crept into his room and stole the stone from his hands, the thing still warm from where his hands had desperately, feverishly clutched at it. As I left, the stone tucked safely inside my robe, I looked back at his face, and already he looked better, as if an enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders._

 _Thror awoke the next morning in a frenzy, calling all of us council members to his chambers at once, demanding that we help him find the stone. He cursed the stone-thief as he did so, causing my heart to wrench. As much as I stand by my actions to take the Arkenstone, it hurt me to hear my beloved King bestow such terrible words upon me, one who has only ever meant to care for him._

 _I do not know how long I can do this, how long I can withhold the stone from his desperate, longing hands. I do not know if I will be caught, nor what my punishment may be if I am. If I am to die, I hope someone may find this journal, these likely mindless ramblings of a guilty man, and may be able to learn something from these tales._

 _I know this, however: the Arkenstone will never be found. It has been hidden, deep within the mountain, where nobody will ever find it._

* * *

 **Reviews, favorites and follows are always so very much appreciated! 3**


	29. Chapter 29: Changing Course

"Thorin," Mei heard Nori pleading. "If only we could get some rest-"

"No," Thorin spat. "No one rests until the stone is found."

With a sigh, Mei rubbed the tiredness from her eyes. She hadn't slept ever since the night before Smaug's attack on Laketown, and she doubted that the other dwarves had slept since well before then.

She wanted to rest. She really did. But she also didn't want to the Arkenstone to be found. As Balin's diary had told her, the stone was dangerous, and she had a gut feeling that it should stay hidden.

"Thorin," Balin called across the hall. "We're all so tired. If we could rest for a few hours, we could resume the search with greater strength and vigor tomorrow morning." Mei peered at the old dwarf closely, searching for any sign that it truly was him who had written the diary entries. _I just can't believe it_ , she thought. _If it wasn't in the original Hobbit books, how can it be true?_

Thorin growled. "Fine," he snarled. "Everyone, find a vacant bedchamber and get some sleep. We continue searching in five hours."

The dwarves heaved a great sigh of relief, all of them rushing from the hall, eager to claim the least dirty bedchambers for themselves. Mei hung back, waiting for Balin just outside the hall. When the old dwarf strode past her, she whispered, "Balin! Can I talk to you?"

The dwarf turned to look at her, his face displaying pure confusion. "Alright," he replied, following her into one of the alleyways that lined Erebor's stone hallway network.

"When I was looking for the stone," Mei began. "I found a door, hidden in the wall of the Great Hall."

Something changed in Balin's face. "My old office," he said flatly, averting her eyes.

"Yes," Mei said, her heart racing. _So it_ was _Balin_ , she thought. "I found your diary," she added. "I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have read it," she remarked sheepishly, biting her lip. "But I did, and I read what you wrote about the Arkenstone."

Balin looked back up at her, his eyes shining. "You didn't tell anyone else, did you?"

"No," Mei said slowly. "But, Balin… you really did steal it?"

"Well of course I did," Balin exclaimed. "I couldn't just sit around and watch the King get consumed by it's evil." He frowned. "And now I have to protect Thorin from the same fate."

They stood in silence for a moment, both of them understanding what was at stake.

"Now wait a minute," Balin said, his brows furrowed. "Can't you tell the future? Didn't you already know this would happen?"

"I knew that the Arkenstone would drive Thorin mad," Mei replied. "But I never knew that you would be the one to hide it! I thought Bilbo would be the one to find it and conceal it from Thorin. You've changed the course of the story, Balin. And for once…" she paused. "I don't know what to do."

Balin laughed. "Well, well, well," he smiled. "Look at me. Changing the course of the story. How interesting…"

"Balin…" Mei begged. "I need your help. What do I do?"

"Don't tell anyone about this," Balin told her, looking into her eyes. "It's best if we simply deprive Thorin of the stone until he gives up and decides not to search for it anymore."

"I don't think he ever will give up, Balin," Mei said softly.

Balin's lips tightened into a thin line. "Get some sleep, Mei," he whispered, turning away and walking down the hallway.

* * *

"Kili?"

The dark-haired dwarf jumped, obviously startled, and then turned to look at her. He smiled when he saw her standing in the doorway.

Mei bit her lip. What she was about to ask him was odd-and she was afraid she might come off as… well… strange.

"What is it?" Kili asked, his brows furrowing when he saw her discomfort. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Mei began. "Well, yes. I mean-" she gulped. "It's just…"

"Yes?"

"There's nowhere else to sleep. I mean, all the dwarves have taken over the other rooms, and I don't fancy sleeping in the corridors," she began, fidgeting with the fabric of her dress. "And I was wondering if I could…" she trailed off, noticing a flash of understanding in Kili's eyes. "If I could, you know… stay here for the night." When silence fell over the two of them, she quickly added, "I'll be completely out of your way. And if you don't feel comfortable with it-"

"No, no, it's fine," Kili laughed, holding up a hand. At her look of astonishment, he added, "Seriously. It's fine."

"Are you sure?" Mei asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because I could find somewhere else-"

"No, Mei, it's fine," Kili said with a grin.

"Oh, thank God," Mei laughed. "I was hoping you'd say that. The hallways really are infested with an assortment of disgusting rodents," she gagged, much to Kili's amusement.

"It was getting pretty lonely in here anyways," Kili said. "Well, it was just me and these skeletons, at least," he remarked, gesturing to the bones of the long-dead dwarves around him. There was a bitterness in his voice, a fierce anger.

"I'm sorry," Mei said, unsure of what else to say. Although she had always sympathized with the dwarves when she read _The Hobbit_ , she knew she would never truly be able to feel their pain, their anger, their hatred as they did.

"You don't have to be," Kili said hoarsely, coughing to clear his throat.

Another silence fell over the room, dense and unmoving.

"Sorry, I'm keeping you awake," Mei said after a moment, hurriedly moving to settle on the half-decayed bench that lay by the fireplace. Kili, she could see, had recently rekindled the old firewood, and there was now a warm fire going in the hearth. "You probably want to rest."

"You're sleeping there?" Kili asked skeptically, nodding towards the bench.

"Yes?" Mei replied, her voice taking on a questioning, doubtful tone.

"I could have sworn I saw some mold growing on the bottom of that bench," Kili said coolly.

"Oh my god!" Mei shrieked, flinching away from the bench. "That's disgusting!"

"What did you expect from a fifty-year-old bench?" Kili laughed.

Mei laughed along with him. "I don't know," she admitted, peering at the bench with a new air of disdain.

"You could share the bed with me, if you'd like," Kili offered.

Mei opened her mouth and then closed it again, no sound escaping it.

"Or you could sleep on the moldy bench," he said again, raising his eyebrow.

"I'll take the bed," she said quickly, jumping onto the dilapidated mattress. She winced when she took in the distressed, poor condition of the bed, what with its moth-eaten sheets, and its decayed pillows.

"Is this really much better than the bench?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Yes," Kili smirked. "Because I'm here." With that, he hopped onto the bed next to her.

Rolling her eyes, Mei reluctantly lowered herself onto the mattress, trying not to think about what types of animals or microscopic bacteria might have lived (or still were living) in these sheets. "No offense, Kili," she whispered. "But Erebor truly is disgusting right now."

"None taken," he whispered back."

* * *

 **Aw, poor Mei is a bit of a germaphobe and is definitely not happy about the current state of Erebor's cleanliness. I'd definitely be just as grossed out if I were her. And I wonder if Kili really did see any mold on that bench or if he was just being sneaky... ;) If you catch my drift.**

 **Any follows, faves or reviews are so greatly appreciated! :)**


	30. Chapter 30: He's Changed Part 1

"Well, well, well."

Mei groggily opened her eyes, only to be confronted by the dark fabric of Kili's tunic. A warmth next to her led her to believe that she had fallen asleep in Kili's embrace, a fact further enforced by the presence of his arm around her.

Gently shifting his arm off of her, she looked up to find Balin standing at the foot of their bed, a knowing glint in his eye. "Sorry to interrupt," he smirked. "But Thorin wants us all back in the Great Hall."

Feeling a blush rise in her cheeks, Mei looked over at the sleeping form of Kili. "Oh, we weren't-" she began, trying to form a plausible excuse.

"Right," Balin laughed. "Of course not. I'm just being silly." He gave Mei a little wink.

Before Mei could stammer an awkward, garbled explanation, Kili let out a groan, slowly opening his eyes. When he saw Mei sitting up next to him, he smiled, reaching up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. But when he saw Balin standing there, he quickly flushed and flinched away. "Oh, umm…" he started, his eyes widening.

"You two…" Balin sighed, shaking his head with a warming smile. "Just make sure to be careful around Thorin," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. "You know he doesn't approve of this… affair."

"Affair?" Mei and Kili squeaked at the same time, both of their faces reddening even more.

With a laugh, Balin strolled out of the room. "Be in the Great Hall in five minutes!" he called back.

"Well that was awkward," Mei winced, an uncomfortable silence settling over the two of them.

"Definitely," Kili breathed. "I guess we'd better get going, then," he added after a moment.

"Right," Mei agreed, getting up. She stretched, taking in the dark bedroom. As there were no windows, and the fire had died out, the room, even at this time in the early morning, was dim, at best.

"I'm still so tired," Kili yawned, getting up too.

"Me too," Mei groaned, her own eyes heavy with fatigue. "I don't know how much of this work I can take. Thorin's gone absolutely crazy."

As soon as she said this, she noticed something in Kili's face change. A deep sadness crossed his youthful face, making it look somehow much, much older.

"I'm sorry," Mei began, hoping she hadn't offended him. Thorin was Kili's uncle after all, and to say something so brash-

"No, no," Kili shook his head. "You're right. Thorin isn't the same anymore." He looked off into the distance, his eyes clouding. "He's changed."

* * *

"Thorin! There's someone at the gates!"

"What?" Thorin called, taken aback. Judging by the dark circles ringing his eyes, he hadn't gotten any sleep that previous night.

"There's a man at the gates, Thorin! I think it's Bard!" Ori yelled back. He had been walking past the front gates on his way to the Great Hall, and had seen a figure through the cracks of the stones that blocked the gate.

"Bard?" Thorin scoffed, tossing aside the huge sapphire he had been examining. They were back in the Hall, searching for the Arkenstone, much to everyone's discomfort. "What purpose does that grim-faced fisherman have showing his face around here?" Despite his scorn, he followed the direction of Ori's voice towards the front gates anyways, the rest of his company following in eager pursuit.

Once they had all reached the gates, Thorin placed an eye to one of the larger cracks in the stone barrier between the outside world and the inside of the mountain.

"Thorin," a familiar voice shouted from the other side of the wall. "I am Bard, Master of Dale. I have come-"

"I know why you have come," Thorin snapped, causing the company, which was standing behind him, to flinch.

"When you left Laketown, you promised my people a small share of the treasure. I have come to request that you honor that pledge," Bard said, seeming to ignore Thorin's last remark.

Thorin was silent for a long moment. He was peering more carefully through the crack in the stone now, Mei could tell, and there seemed to be something outside that had caught his eye.

"Why do you come to the gates of my kingdom fully armed and ready for war?" Thorin asked shortly, stepping back slightly.

 _The Battle of the Five Armies!_ Mei thought, noticing the golden glimmer of Elven armor just outside the mountain through the crack.

"Why does the King Under the Mountain fence himself in, like a robber in his hoard?" Bard replied, his voice burning with annoyance.

"Perhaps it is because I am expecting to be robbed!" Thorin retorted hotly.

More silence.

"I simply ask that you honor your word, Thorin Oakenshield," Bard said quietly. "My people are starving, and we need only the funds to rebuild our lives."

"I will not treat with you while you have an armed host at your call," Thorin barked.

"That armed host will attack this mountain unless you honor your word," Bard said, in a way that led Mei to believe that he really hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Is that a threat?" Thorin asked, his voice taking on a dangerous edge.

"You gave us your word, Thorin," Bard added. "Does that mean nothing to you?"

Thorin paused, turning away from the bargman-turned-king for a moment. When he turned back to his company, he was faced by a wall of shock, shock at his indignation, his dishonesty, his shameful deceit. He looked at the faces of his friends, his nephews, his relatives, and saw only disappointment.

"Will you have peace?" Bard asked. "Or war?"

Thorin's face hardened, the soft realization on his face evaporating before the company's very eyes. "I will have war," he growled.

* * *

 **I've decided to not have the Arkenstone show up in this fic, because I wanted to highlight how being in the mountain and being around the dragon-cursed gold affects Thorin emotionally, without having the physical representation of it (the Arkenstone).**

 **Please favorite, follow and review! :)**


	31. Chapter 31: He's Changed Part 2

The company was all in the armory now, getting fitted and equipped with the dusty, cobwebbed weapons and armor of their Dwarven ancestors. Some of the older dwarves, like Balin, remarked that they remembered all of this armor from when they had lived in Erebor, and had to be soothed by their brothers and cousins, as they quickly broke down crying from all the nostalgic emotion.

But these occasional sobbing fits only aided in making the mood in the armory even more gloomy. Everyone was still in shock over Thorin's words at the gate earlier, and now that they were actually preparing and readying themselves for war… well, Mei was quite sure that no one was happy about it.

A little ways off, she saw Thorin handing Bilbo a silver chain coat, the mithril vest that she remembered reading about. _Awesome_ , she couldn't help but remark, noticing the way the gorgeous silvery metal caught the light of the sconces in the hall.

"Mei!" Thorin's booming voice called to her, causing her to jump in surprise. When she turned, she saw him beckoning to her, standing next to the astonished Bilbo, who was trying on the new vest.

"I have something for you," Thorin said, giving her an avuncular smile that made Mei wonder if the stern appearance at the gate had all just been something of her own imagination. He handed her a set of golden bracelets and a necklace lined in thin, elegant strings of rubies.

"Woah," Mei breathed, gently easing the jewelry out of his hands. "Thank you," she said at last, after fingering the delicate jewels for a moment.

"They are the _luzdh u zinlaz_ [the wealth/gift of the stars], and are an heirloom of my people. These gems are my _dorok_ to you, my offering of friendship." He smiled at her again. "They will protect you from harm, and will offer you the guidance of the heavens."

"Thank you, Thorin," Mei said again, forgetting for a moment how crazy he had seemed earlier.

But her forgetfulness was short lived. Something in Thorin's face changed, and she saw a menacing flicker in his eyes. He stepped forward, forcing her to step backwards against the wall, her back pressing into the cold stone. The king placed his arms on either side of her, creating a sort of cage around them as he leaned in and whispered to her, "You have been faithful to my company, and that is something I cannot value enough. True loyalty is hard to come by," he breathed, his breath hot on her face.

"What?" Mei choked out, trying not to look Thorin in the eye, which, as he was only a few inches away from her, was extremely difficult.

"One of them," Thorin nodded towards the armory, "Has betrayed me."

"Betrayed you?" Mei asked, startled.

"The Arkenstone has been stolen," he snarled. "And it has been stolen by one of my very own followers."

"I'm sorry, but Thorin I think-" Mei began, trying to reason with the dwarf.

"One of my own friends…" Thorin interrupted, turning his head such that she was forced to look into his anger-filled eyes. "They knew how much it meant to me and yet…"

Mei thought of Balin for a moment, but instantly regretted it. Something in her own face must have changed when she did so, because Thorin leaned (somehow) closer, his eyes widening.

"Do you know of who has committed this treachery against me?" he growled, his eyes manic and bright.

"N-no," Mei stammered, wishing she could back away more. "I d-d-don't." _So much for the nicey-nice Thorin_ , she thought to herself.

"Uncle?"

Thorin turned to look at the speaker, his eyes still flaming. Beside him stood Kili, a look of mixed confusion and anger on his face. "What are you doing?" Kili asked, looking towards the arms Thorin had placed on the wall around Mei, and taking in Mei's own frightened expression.

"I was just asking my seer a question," Thorin said after a moment, stepping back from Mei, much to her relief. Turning to Kili again, he added, "As it is, it is not your business."

Kili stiffened, and Mei could see a flash of hurt in his eyes. Thorin never spoke or looked at Kili this way, his once softened features now cold and hard. The kind uncle that Kili must have remembered from his childhood had now been replaced by this angry, gold-crazed maniac.

"Tell me if you notice anything, Mei," Thorin said to her, bringing her attention back to the conversation they had been having.

"I will," Mei choked. Clearing her throat, she watched the king leave, his fur robes barely grazing the ground behind him.

"Are you alright?" Kili asked, turning to her, watching his uncle leave with a new expression of disdain.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, although her heart still beat ever so quickly from Thorin's interrogation.

"What was he talking to you about?" Kili asked, his concerned eyes scanning her face.

"Just… nothing," Mei replied shakily, averting his gaze. She thought it might be best is Kili didn't know about his uncle's suspicions. She didn't want to cause him any more pain.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" Kili said, lifting her chin up with one of his fingers so that she was looking at him. His huge brown eyes met her's, and Mei felt the same fluttery feeling in her chest that she had felt that very first night in Bag End. _Why are his eyes so incredibly hot?_ she thought to herself, groaning inwardly.

"O-of course," Mei stammered after a moment. Taking a deep breath, she finally blurted, "It's just… Thorin thinks that one of the members of the company has betrayed him."

Kili stiffened. "Betrayed him?" he asked, his voice taking on a dangerous edge.

"He thinks someone is concealing the Arkenstone from him," Mei continued, watching Kili's face become angrier and angrier.

"How…" Kili trailed off, biting his lip. She could see frustrated, angry tears welling in his eyes. "We've all faithfully followed him for decades now, and yet he doubts us?" His words came out in a near sob, and Mei rubbed his arm in an attempt to console him.

"When I was little," Kili began, a small tear rolling down his cheek. "My uncle told me that honor and trust and faithfulness were the most important qualities a dwarf could have. And now…" he looked in the direction that his uncle had left. "He's gone against everything he ever believed in."

Mei pulled the dwarf into a hug, squeezing him tightly as she felt his trembling body break down into a fit of sobbing and crying and incomprehensible mumblings.

* * *

 **This is a short chapter, but I just wanted to get something up here after such a long absence! Yet again, school has gotten in the way of writing, which is ever so sad.**

 **Please check out my other two Hobbit fanfics as well, The Daughter of Fire and Greed, and Two Assassins (previously Smoke Screen).**

 **Also, every review, favorite and follow is greatly appreciated! :) They encourage me to keep writing!**


	32. Chapter 32: Throw Her From the Ramparts

Later that afternoon, the dwarves were gathered back at the front gate to keep watch over the lands in front of Erebor. The sight before them was utterly terrifying, but the rigid, cold expression on Thorin's face was even more terrifying.

A massive Elvish army was gathered in front of Dale, which was a few miles away. Mei could see the glint of the elves' golden armor even from her far-away stance on the gate.

"What are you doing, Thorin?" Bilbo said suddenly, causing everyone to cast their glances his way. Thorin's eyes snapped to the hobbit with a piercing look.

"This does not concern you," Thorin said brusquely.

"Excuse me?" Bilbo cried incredulously. "In case you haven't noticed, there is an _army_ of elves out there. And not to mention several hundred angry fisherman. We are, in fact, outnumbered."

Thorin's features broke into a rare smile, and he turned to face the hobbit. "Not for much longer," he said.

"W-w-what?" Bilbo choked out. "What does that mean?"

"It means, Master Baggins," Thorin said, with a sly smirk, "that you should never underestimate dwarves." He turned away then, looking back out at fields below them, leaving Bilbo standing there, with a confused expression on his face.

* * *

 **NOTICE:**

 **I highly suggest that you go back and read _Chapter 17: Thorin's Rules _ before reading the rest of this current chapter. It'll give you a good refresher as to why the following event takes place.**

* * *

"When do you think the battle will start?" Kili asked her, as he paced around the bedroom they had slept in the night before.

"I don't know," Mei replied, fingering one of the golden bracelets that Thorin had given to her a few hours earlier. "In _The Hobbit_ , things were quite different than they are now, and I can't really predict what'll happen anymore." The thought made her anxious.

"I'm scared, Mei," Kili said after a moment, turning to face her. Despite the shining armor that he wore, Mei could see a trace of fear in Kili's eyes.

"Why?" Mei asked, stepping closer to him and taking one of his armored hands in hers.

"Ever since you told me about what happens to me at the end of the battle," Kili began, his eyes welling with tears, "I've been trying to come to peace with it all. My dying, I mean."

"Kili…" Mei trailed off, her own eyes pricking with tears. "Don't-"

"I never thought death would be so frightening," Kili said, his voice strained. "I always thought that when my time came to depart this world, I would greet it with open arms and acceptance. But now-"

Before he could say anything else, Mei engulfed him in a hug, squeezing him tightly through his armor. "Don't be afraid," she whispered, pulling away after a long moment. She turned his face upwards from it's downcast state so that he was forced to meet her gaze. "You're not going to die, Kili," she said, speaking the first words of a binding promise. "I'm not going to let you." She clutched his hand even more tightly. "I'm going to protect you, Kili," Mei said. "I'm going to save you, because I love you, and if anything were to happen to you, it would destroy me." And she leaned forward then, kissing him.

He returned the gesture, passion and love and fear and promises and hope enveloping them as they held each other.

"What in the name of Durin is going on here?"

They pulled apart, looking to the source of the interruption. Thorin stood in the doorway of their room, his face lined with rage.

"Did I not warn you of what would come of this if you continued to pursue her, Kili?" Thorin roared, stomping over to them. His eyes blazed with an anger that surpassed even his earlier fury.

Mei remembered that night after escaping the goblins, and how Thorin had told Kili that if he noticed any more advances in their romantic relationship that he would…

Throw her out of the company.

Realization dawned on her, and she felt her heart begin to pound even more quickly in her chest.

"Uncle, please-" Kili began, but Thorin cut him off.

"Why would you do this?" Thorin growled, his fiery gaze turning to her. "Why would you seek to distract my nephew?"

"I-" Mei started, but Thorin cut her off too.

"Do you care so little about him that you would prefer he stick around here, pleasuring you, rather than train for the battle he is about to enter?" Thorin spat, jabbing a finger into her chest.

"Uncle!" Kili shouted, grabbing Thorin's arm and wrenching it away from Mei. "Stop this."

"Be quiet, Kili," Thorin snapped, turning back to Mei. "You knew the consequences of your actions, did you not?" he asked her, stepping dangerously close.

 _He won't truly throw me out of the company… will he?_ Mei gulped, inching as far away as she could from Thorin as she could, only to find that, once again, she was backed up against a wall. She remembered how Bilbo had been banished from the company when he had presented Thranduil and Bard with the Arkenstone. Surely she wouldn't meet the same fate?

"You would seek to go behind my back, corrupting and seducing my house like some common whore?" Thorin thundered, his face purpling.

"Uncle!" Kili cried again furiously, as Mei gave a start of shock and anger at Thorin's words. "You-"

"-I trusted you, Mei," he interrupted, his voice sharp. "I did not know that you would betray me."

Mei bristled, her eyes blinding with hot, angry tears. "I haven't betrayed you, Thorin," Mei replied furiously, before she could process what she was saying. "But perhaps your sense has."

"Excuse me?" Thorin roared. "You would dare-"

"You've changed, Thorin," Mei said, forcing herself to maintain eye contact with the fuming dwarf king. "The dwarf I met in Bag End would _never_ have gone back on his word! Would never have doubted the loyalty of his kin."

Thorin's mask of anger seemed to falter for a moment, but only for a split second. Then he was right in front of her again, spitting and snarling. "Do not speak to me… of loyalty, you miserable rat."

By now, the commotion had attracted the attention of several of the other dwarves, and Fili, Balin, Bilbo and Oin had just now entered the room.

"What's going on?" Fili asked, looking between all of their angry faces.

"Throw her from the ramparts," Thorin ordered, ignoring his nephew's question.

"Who? What's going _on_?" Fili repeated, at the same time that Kili yelled, "Uncle, no!"

"Throw her from the ramparts!" Thorin barked again, shoving Mei towards a bewildered, shocked Fili. "Fili!"

 _Here we go_ , Mei thought, her breaths coming out in ragged heaves. _I guess I'll be taking Bilbo's place for this part of the story._

"Uncle, I-" Fili stammered, backing away, his eyes wide.

"Fine," Thorin muttered, snagging Mei by the arm and dragging her towards the front gate. "I'll do it myself."

When Thorin grabbed her, Mei's anger flared, and she began clawing at where his fingers grasped her sleeve, trying to loosen his grip. But she only dealt the king's hand a few scratches, and instead succeeded in infuriating Thorin further. "Let me go!" she hissed, straining and squirming in his hold.

"Uncle, let go of her!" Kili screamed, his voice cracking with terror as he tried to pull her away from his uncle. Thorin held on, and only moved faster towards the gates.

The entire company had been alerted to the situation by now, and they followed in pursuit, screaming protests at Thorin as he pulled Mei through the corridors and finally, onto the gate.

When they reached the lookout ledge atop the front gate, Thorin hurled Mei roughly against one of the many battlements lining the top of the gate, her body draped uncomfortably over the top of it, her top half dangling over the edge.

"Mei!" she heard the cries of Kili and several of the other company members from further inside the mountain as they ran to catch up with her and Thorin.

 _Well, if this whole fiasco didn't just ruin kissing for me, I don't know what ever will_ , she thought bitterly, trying to stay her thumping heart.

But as she dangled there, given an upside-down view of the vast fields in front of Erebor, she found that it wasn't just the fear of being thrown off the gate that made her heartbeat quicken. For in front of them, there stood the massive Elven army again. And this time, they looked ready to attack.

* * *

 **Oh, boy. Things are really heating up, aren't they?**

 **So I know Kili's been sort of an emotional wreck in the last few chapters, but the last few days in the mountain have been tough for him, and it's difficult for him to deal with both the changing of his uncle and the fact that he'll probably die soon.**

 **Also, Thorin is 100% a total arse in this chapter. Ugh, just writing about him made me want to go strangle him.**

 **But if you're wanting to see what happens next, it would be great if you could review, follow and favorite! I won't hold the next chapter hostage for reviews, but they really do encourage me to keep writing, and (just saying... hehe) the next chapter will probably come out faster if there's a larger response. :) Thank you for your endless, amazing support!**

 **Oh! And check out my other two stories, The Daughter of Fire and Greed, and Deadly Schemes for more Hobbit fanfic goodness. :)**


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